Caleb Smith To Make Bronx Debut As New York Takes On Blake Snell, Tampa Bay

Two left-handers, two pitchers with 0-1 and 0-6 records in Caleb Smith of New York and Blake Snell of Tampa Bay which one will step up for their team in game three of this four game set at Yankee Stadium and give their club the best chance to win? 

Following news of right-hander Michael Pineda's season-ending elbow injury, figuring out who will be the Yankees' fifth starter has been one of the club's biggest questions, especially with Monday's non-waiver Trade Deadline on the horizon. "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

Smith's first start -- and second big league appearance -- came on Sunday in Seattle, where the Mariners touched him up for four runs in 3 2/3 innings. He was impressive out of the bullpen in his MLB debut against the Twins on July 17, though he was the losing pitcher in that contest. "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

Snell (0-6, 4.86 ERA) moved from the right side of the rubber more toward the center before his last start, in which he went seven innings and gave up three runs on six hits, though the Rays lost to the Orioles, 5-0. "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

Snell has been better over his last three starts, posting a 3.38 ERA (six runs in 16 innings) -- a significant improvement from the 5.36 ERA he had in his first nine outings -- though he's been unable to crack the win column. Rays pitching coach Jim Hickey told Snell that he thought moving to the middle of the rubber would help him stay in the zone more and improve his offspeed pitches." according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

"It sure did," Snell said. "My curve came back to life, changeup came back to life. Fastball was in the zone a lot more. Just a lot more competitive pitches." "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

 In Snell's past three starts, opponents are 2-for-13 (.154) with 10 strikeouts vs. his breaking balls, with a 27.8 percent swinging-strike rate. Before that, they were 9-for-44 (.205) with 21 strikeouts vs. breaking balls, with a 17.7 percent swinging-strike rate. "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

Lucas Duda homered in his Rays debut Friday, accounting for all of the club's offense in a 6-1 loss.

With his leadoff homer on Friday, Brett Gardner became the third Yankee to end a game with a home run and then hit another home run to lead off the next game. He is also riding a 10-game hitting streak and has four homers in that span. "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

So far, the Yankees have elected to go with left-handed pitcher Caleb Smith (0-1, 8.10 ERA) as the final pitcher in their rotation. Smith is set to make his second Major League start Saturday afternoon against left-hander Blake Snell and the Rays at Yankee Stadium. "according to http://m.mlb.com/news/article/20170728244989816/yankees-tab-rookie-smith-vs-snell-rays/?game_pk=491656

As for their last game, 

Masahiro Tanaka so far hasn't had a great season but did he finally turn the corner against Tampa Bay? 

 Masahiro Tanaka dominated the Rays' hitters and the Yankees' power bats dominated Rays pitching Friday night in a 6-1 win over Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/245021610/yankees-masahiro-tanaka-dominates-rays/

The Yankees (55-46) earned their fifth consecutive win -- and second straight over the visiting Rays (53-51) -- and took over sole possession of first place in the American League East. The Yanks lead the Red Sox by a half-game. Tampa Bay sits third in the AL Wild Card standings, 2 1/2 games behind the Royals for the second spot. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/245021610/yankees-masahiro-tanaka-dominates-rays/

Tanaka retired the first 17 batters he faced before Adeiny Hechavarria singled with two out in the sixth. The right-hander allowed one run on two hits while fanning a career-high 14 en route to his eighth win of the season. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/245021610/yankees-masahiro-tanaka-dominates-rays/

"Yeah, it was [no-hit stuff]," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "Generally you tie no-hit stuff into a lot of power. But he does it a different way. But you could tell early on from the swings that guys were taking that he had really, really good, late deceptive stuff. "according to http://m.yankees.mlb.com/news/article/245021610/yankees-masahiro-tanaka-dominates-rays/

"He established that he was going to be able to live at the bottom of the zone. ... It was more or less he was painting at the bottom of the zone. And when he does that, he's going to get hitters to expand a little bit."

Tanaka said he first noticed after the fifth inning that he was throwing a perfect game, and acknowledged he might've been his own jinx. He laughed that it was the next inning, with two outs in the sixth, that he surrendered his first hit.

"That's when I realized I hadn't given up a hit," Tanaka said through an interpreter. "I went back out after that inning, and in the sixth, I gave up a hit and that was that."

Brute force in the form of home runs from all three Yankees outfielders backed Tanaka's excellence on the mound.

Brett Gardner led off the Yankees first with a solo home run against Rays starter Austin Pruitt.Aaron Judge added a solo shot in the fourth and Clint Frazier connected on a three-run homer in the fifth that put the Yankees up 5-0.

Usually, when I'm involved, that keeps the outfield from accomplishing something like that," said Gardner of all three outfielders going deep. "This year, I've managed to hit a few. … It's a lot of fun to be out there in the outfield with those two guys."

Lucas Duda, who was acquired by the Rays from the Mets on Thursday, got his first hit as a Ray when he homered off Tanaka in the seventh to cut the lead to 5-1.

Less than 24 hours after Gardner hit a walk-off homer in the 11th inning of the Yankees' 6-5 win over the Rays, Gardner led off Friday night's game with his 19th home run of the season to get the Yankees headed in the right direction.

Judge's 33rd home run of the season was a no-doubter. The slugger connected on a 1-2 pitch from Pruitt and deposited the ball 397 feet into the left-field stands on a blast that had an 111.6-mph exit velocity with a 21-degree launch angle, according to toStatcast™. Judge has hit 18 home runs this season with an exit velocity of 110-plus mph. Frazier managed to upstage Judge with a 455-foot home run -- the sixth longest for the Yankees this season -- that had an exit velocity of 111 mph with a 26-degree launch angle as measured by Statcast™.

New York improved to 55-46 while Tampa Bay dropped to 53-51 on the season. New York is now back in first place the American League East while their rival Boston is .5 games back. 

New York and Tampa Bay will play game three Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Left-hander Caleb Smith who has a record of 0-1 with an 8.10 earn run average will get the start for New York. Smith couldn't make it through four innings in his first Major League start against the Mariners on Sunday, allowing four runs on five hits in 3 2/3 innings. However, the Yankees won the game 6-4. He will go up against Tampa Bay left-hander Blake Snell who has a record of 0-6 with a 4.86 earn run average. Snell has struggled to provide length since arriving to the Rays in 2016, logging 19 career starts of five innings or fewer, which made his last outing encouraging which he pitched into the eighth Monday against the Orioles.

Will Caleb Smith have a better start than he did in Seattle against the Mariners? Will Brett Garder who homered again less than twenty-four hours after his walk-off winner Thursday hit another home run? Will Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier also help the New York offense in game three like they did in game two where Aaron Judge homered for the 33rd time this season? Will Clint Frazier also hit another home run in game three of the series?  

First pitch is set for 1:05 pm. The game will be televised on Yes and Fox Sports Sun.