Tampa Bay Rays vs New York Yankees MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 4/9/21

The New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays meet in an AL East division matchup in MLB action from Tropicana Field on Friday afternoon.

The New York Yankees will be out to rebound from a 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in their series finale on Wednesday. Gio Urshela went 2 for 4 with a double and an RBI while Kyle Higashioka and Aaron Hicks each chipped in an RBI as well to cap off the scoring for the Yankees in the loss. Gary Sanchez went 2 for 3 with a double while Brett Gardner, Giancarlo Stanton and DJ LeMahieu each had two hits in the loss while Gleyber Torres added a base knock as well in the loss for the Bronx Bombers. Jameson Taillon gave up two runs on three hits with 7 strikeouts over 4.2 innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Chad Green ended up taking the loss in relief, falling to 0-1 on the year. Corey Kluber will start here and is 0-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 5 strikeouts this season. In his career, Kluber is 5-2 with a 2.67 ERA and 79 strikeouts against Tampa Bay.

The Tampa Bay Rays will be out to rebound from a 9-2 loss to the Red Sox in their last game. Michael Brosseau and Yoshi Tsutsugo each had an RBI for the Rays in the losing effort while Austin Meadows, Francisco Mejia and Randy Arozarena each had a double to cap off the Rays’ offense as Tampa Bay had just five hits as a team in the losing effort. Ryan Yarbrough ended up with the loss, falling to 0-1 after allowing six earned runs on nine hits with a pair of strikeouts over five innings of work. Rich Hill will start here and is 0-0 with a 9.00 ERA and 4 strikeouts this season.

New York is 2-5 in their last 7 games overall and 2-7 in their last 9 games against a left-handed starter while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games following a loss. Tampa Bay is 46-15 in their last 61 home games and 40-11 in their last 51 home games against a right-handed starter while the over is 5-0 in their last 5 games overall. New York is 3-10 in the last 13 meetings between these two teams.

I get the case that you could make for the Rays with the game being their home opener, but I’m still not sold on Rich Hill as has been the case for some time now, and the tandem of Hill with Chris Archer in a cleanup role didn’t really perform all that well the first time up. Corey Kluber isn’t the shutdown ace that he once was, but he’s still a solid arm and has the benefit of that Yankee lineup behind him so I’ll lay the reasonable juice with the Yankees in this spot.

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