Needing to win their final five games to avoid a fourth straight losing season, the Rays send RHP Matt Andriese to the Yankee Stadium mound tonight in his last outing of 2018.
Andriese has had an up and down season, up in the first months as he rolled to a promising 5-1, 3.24, but then down as he injured his right hip, missed more than two months and has struggled since he came back, leading to his current 5-4, 4.44 mark.
"I want to finish in a high note and go into next season with a good outing and a positive impression,'' he said. "There's been a lot of ups and down. The (hip) injury kind of put a damper on things. I think I've proved that I've come back healthy, not exactly with the results I wanted.''
The playoff bound Yankees are starting RHP Luis Severino, who will be prepping for an expected Tuesday start in the AL wild-card game.
Here is the Rays lineup:
Kiermaier cf,
Duda DH,
Longoria 3b,
Morrison 1b,
Souza RF,
Dickerson lf,
Hechavarria SS,
Miller 2b,
Sucre c,
Andriese P
And here is the Yankees lineup, with Aaron Judge as the DH:
Gardner lf
Judge dh
Sanchez c
Gregorius ss
Castro 2b
Bird 1b
Headley 3b
Ellsbury cf
Hicks rf
Severino p