Yankees vs. Mets: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Jacob deGrom

The Yankees head into tonight’s Subway Series finale trailing Boston by five games in the AL East race, while leading Seattle by 4.5 for the top Wild Card berth. Masahiro Tanaka (7-2, 4.54 ERA) faces off against Mets ace Jacob deGrom (5-4, 1.68 ERA), as the Bombers go for the season-series win against their crosstown rivals.

Pitching matchup

Tanaka injured both hamstrings running the bases at Citi Field on June 8th, and subsequently spent a month on the disabled list. He had been pitching a masterpiece to that point — a solo home run was the only hit he allowed the Mets through five innings. He walked just one man and struck out eight of the 16 batters he faced.

He allowed three runs on five hits over 4.1 innings at Baltimore on July 10th, his first start after coming off the DL. In his next outing, Tanaka allowed two runs on six hits over 6.1 at Cleveland.

Let’s hope the winds are blowing in again tonight at Yankee Stadium. Since the start of last season, Tanaka has allowed a major-league worst 53 home runs. He refrained from coughing up a homer in only two of his 15 starts this year.

Long-shot Yankees’ trade target deGrom leads MLB with a microscopic 1.68 ERA, and is the only qualifying starter with an ERA under 2.00. Fifteen of his 19 outings this year have been quality starts, including the last 11 straight.

The right-hander has limited opponents to one run or fewer 14 times this season. He’s also been stingy with the long ball, having allowed only seven over 123.1 innings. He hasn’t permitted two homers in a game since August 15th of last year. The Yankees beat deGrom in the game Tanaka started in Flushing, thanks in part to a Brett Gardner two-run homer.

Lineups

How to watch

The game won’t start on time, so we’ll have updates when they become available.

Location: Yankee Stadium

First pitch: TBD

TV channel: ESPN

Online streaming: ESPN (subscribers only)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 (full listings)

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