New York Yankees vs. Tampa Bay Rays: Jordan Montgomery vs. Tyler Glasnow

At some point, if the Yankees want to get going and get back into the (still early) division race, they’re going to have to beat Tampa Bay. They’ve struggled mightily in doing so up to this point, losing the opener of this series after dropping their initial series down at the Trop. If this were any other opponent, the game would not feel so boom or bust, despite the rough opening stretch that the team is on — but the Rays have proven to be an effective roadblock so far. The only way forward is to clear them out of the way.

That tall task is made a little more difficult today, as the Rays send their ace Tyler Glasnow to the mound. He’s one of the hottest pitchers in baseball so far, rocking a 0.46 ERA with 29 strikeouts through three starts, and he has the pedigree to convince folks that this is what to expect when he’s on his game. Glasnow’s triple-digits fastball will pose a challenge, but it’s his nasty breaking pitches that can flummox batters — he’s got a top-shelf curveball and slider that keep opposing lineups off-balance with regularity.

Jordan Montgomery will answer him for the Yankees, and he’ll be the latest starter to try and establish himself beside Gerrit Cole as the team’s pillars in the rotation. Montgomery owns probably the best non-Cole start that a Yankee has pitched this season, tossing six shutout in his season debut, but he followed it up with a dud against these Rays a week ago. The longball doomed him in that outing, and if he can avoid serving one up today he stands a chance of providing some much-needed innings.

How to watch

Location: Yankee Stadium

First pitch: 1:05 p.m. ET

TV broadcast: YES Network, Bally Sports Sun, MLB Network (out-of-market)

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280

Online stream: MLB.tv

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