New York Yankees @ Seattle Mariners: Nestor Cortes vs. Robbie Ray

After a late, late night on Tuesday, the Yankees will have to turn it around in a hurry, taking on the Seattle Mariners at 1pm local time, just 13 hours after being walked off in their grueling 1-0 loss. The Wild Card-contending Mariners have proven to be a tough foe for New York this year — as today’s game is the rubber match of the series, and a win would tie the season series overall at 3-3.

We’ll see a pair of lefties facing off this afternoon, with Nestor Cortes taking on Robbie Ray. Ray’s a familiar opponent for most Yankee fans, as we got our fill of him last year while he was taking home the AL Cy Young for the Blue Jays. He’s had, at best, an up-and-down inaugural campaign for the Mariners, seeing a drop-off in strikeout rate and increase in walk rate, but still overall being about a league-average starter with better-than-average stuff.

Cortes has not been league average. He went through a little bit of a tough patch in June but comes into today’s start with a 1.93 ERA and 2.43 FIP in his last four outings, back to being the 1A in this rotation. It’s something of a homecoming for Nestor, who spent the 2020 season with the Mariners and only faced his former squad once last year, in the Bronx.

Anthony Rizzo returns to the lineup after six days dealing with back problems. Hopefully he’s back to, or close to, 100 percent, as last night’s struggle to score at all might lead to a bit of an offensive hangover today.

How to watch

Location: T-Mobile Park – Seattle, WA

First pitch: 4:10 pm ET

TV broadcast: YES, Root NW

Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 / KIRO 710

Online stream: MLB.tv

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