Licking their Wounds – Tampa Bay Rays vs. New York Yankees

MLB BETTING

Game Match-Up: 5/6 – 7:05 ET

AL East rivals collide at New Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, and BetOnline Sportsbook customers will have all of the sports betting action available at their fingertips for the clash between the Tampa Bay Rays (12-16, -$673) and the New York Yankees (13-13, -$504). This is the first of a brief two-game set. In the first meeting of the year between these rivals, the Rays opened up the series with a 15-5 victory, but stumbled to two defeats to lose the three-game set.

The oddsmakers are expecting them to be in a 1-0 hole in this series fairly easily, as the Yanks are -175 favorites, while the ‘total’ has been set at 10 over -120.

It’s unclear just how much patience Manager Joe Maddon has left with RHP Andy Sonnanstine, but if things don’t improve soon, the Rays will simply have to find another option in their rotation. “Sonny” finally picked up his first ‘W’ of the season in his last start against the BoSox last week, but the outing wasn’t nearly good enough to post consistent wins like he did last season. The righty pitched 5.2 innings, allowing two runs, eight hits, and four walks. It was his second straight outing with a WHIP over 2.00, and the third time in five starts his WHIP has been over that number this season. It should come as no surprise that the Rays are just 1-4 and -$322 in the righty’s starts this season. Sonnanstine hasn’t had much luck against the Bronx Bombers either, as he has a 5.65 ERA against them in three career starts.

The Yankees spent a lot of money in the offseason locking down their starting rotation, and though things haven’t worked out so well as of yet with CC Sabathia, RHP AJ Burnett has done his job. The Yanks are 4-1 in his three starts, and have earned their baseball bettors $310 on the season. His core numbers aren’t stunning (5.40 ERA and 1.33 WHIP), but save a miserable eight-run outing against the Sox two starts ago, he’s pretty much given the Yanks everything they could hope for. He hasn’t had an eye-popping start as of yet, but his last outing against the Halos was sufficient, as he allowed four runs in seven frames of work. Burnett is 8-4 with a 2.94 ERA and 1.02 WHIP in 17 career starts against the boys from the Bay.

After shocking the world a year ago, the Rays have stumbled out of the blocks this season, and have only strung together one two-game winning streak in their L/8 games following a victory. Sonnanstine is normally an automatic fade, but the chalk may be too much to swallow here considering how bad the New York bullpen can be (5.77 ERA for the season). Hope that Tampa Bay can string together some runs off of Burnett and that all the base runners Sonny’s been giving up this season come back to bite him on the backside; the ‘over’ is the best way to go in tonight’s match-up.

Rose’s Recommendation: 3* TBY/NYY Over 10 -120

(Rating Scale: 1* – 5*)