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Yankees vs. Rays Game Preview: Pineda aims for sweep

Michael Pineda & Co. will try and lock down the three-game sweep and get back to .500 this afternoon against the Rays.

Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

The Yankees are riding high following last night's 9-0 victory, and this afternoon they'll trying and keep that momentum going as Michael Pineda takes the hill for his third start of the season. Pineda saw mixed results in his last outing, giving up 5 earned runs on 9 hits in 6.1 innings, despite striking out 9 and walking none. Fortunately for Big Mike, current members of this Rays squad are hitting only .162 (6-for-37) off of him, according to MLB.com.

Going against the Yanks on the mound this afternoon will be Matt Andriese. The right-hander made his first career start last week against Toronto, and went only 3.2 IP, giving up 2 runs on five hits. The 26-year-old rookie was involved in the same trade that brought Logan Forsythe and Brad Boxberger to the Rays from San Diego last January. In his evaluation of the Rays' prospects over the winter, Fangraphs' Kiley McDaniel wrote about Andriese:

He has some funk to his delivery, but solid command of a four pitch mix the he uses to generate a lot of ground balls.  He throws an above average, new, mid-80’s cutter/slider that helps with lefty bats, an 88-90 fastball with life that hits 93 mph, a solid average changeup and a fourth pitch curveball to change eye levels. Andriese projects as a potential #5 starter and will also jump in the deep line of AAA/MLB starters.

The game is set to start at 1:10 PM ET, and will be on PIX11.