Masahiro Tanaka Takes On Justin Verlander As New York Visits Houston

On Monday night New York who is a member of the American League East will head to Texas where they will take on Houston who is a member of the American League West for a three game series where Masahiro Tanaka will look to outduel Justin Verlander

As stated above, Masahiro Tanaka will open the series for New York. The Japanese right -hander comes into the game with a record of 1-0 with an earn run average of 1.46. Tanaka has been excellent through two starts, recording 12 strikeouts without a walk. He logged a quality start in his only outing against the Astros last year after starting twice against them in the 2017 postseason. He will oppose Houston right -hander Justin Verlander who comes into the game with a record of 1-0 with an earn run average of 4.09. Verlander is coming off a rough outing against the Rangers on Tuesday in which he gave up four runs and six hits in four innings while struggling to find his control. That came after a solid seven-inning outing against the Rays on Opening Day. “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/roster/probable-pitchers

New York comes into the game with a record of 5-4 while Houston comes into the game with a record of 5-5 .

As for New York’s previous game, they not only won the series but swept Baltimore in the process at Camden Yards.

Gary Sánchez had never enjoyed a three-homer performance at any level before Sunday, though that was no reason to be satisfied. As he walked to home plate for his sixth at-bat of the afternoon in the ninth inning, you can be certain that he was trying to hit a fourth.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"I tried to do what everyone was thinking about, but I got under it too much," Sanchez said through an interpreter.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

It's just as well that Sanchez flew out against position player Hanser Alberto: The umpiring crew might have otherwise run out of baseballs. Sanchez slugged three of the Yankees' seven homers and drove in a career-high six runs as New York battered the Orioles, 15-3, at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

The Bombers completed a three-game sweep as Gleyber Torres, Clint Frazier and Austin Romine also cleared the fences, with Frazier going deep twice. It was the fifth time that the Yankees have hit seven or more homers in a game, and their first such showing since July 31, 2007, against the White Sox (eight).”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-oriolesSanchez led the charge with his trio of two-run blasts to the left-field seats, marking the 11th multi-homer game of his career.

"He's a great player that is still growing, and it's our job to help him continue to reach his peak in every facet of the game," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "He's making strides in a lot of areas of the game. We know we've got a special talent on our hands and a guy that impacts the game, period."" “according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

Serving as the Yankees' designated hitter, Sanchez hit his first off David Hess in the third inning, bested Mike Wright Jr. in the seventh and Dan Straily in the eighth. The production supported starter Domingo Germán, who held the Orioles hitless into the sixth inning for his second win.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"Everyone went out there and did the job," Frazier said. "Domingo threw an unbelievable game, Gary hit three homers and we had 15 hits on top of that. It's everyone collectively going out there and doing what we're all capable of. It was a good way to end the series."“according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

Sanchez has six homers this season, tying the Dodgers' Cody Bellinger for the Major League lead. He joined Graig Nettles (1974) and Alex Rodriguez (2007) as the only Yankees to hit six home runs through the team's first nine games of the year.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"I feel good at the plate right now," Sanchez said. "I'm making adjustments. I'm controlling the zone. That has been the plan, and I just feel good overall."“according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

The power display came one night after Sanchez drew the ire of the coaching staff for a concentration lapse on the basepaths, as he was picked off third base with the bases loaded and none out in the sixth inning. Sanchez was also picked off in Thursday's series opener, and said he was happy to have atoned.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"Mistakes are going to happen in the game," Sanchez said. "If you don't make a mistake, then you don't play baseball. And they happen. We're not going to be perfect. They're going to happen from time to time. The important thing about that is to flip the page and focus on today, and I was able to do that today."“according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

Six of Sanchez's eight hits this season have cleared the outfield wall, and he has hit safely in six of eight games.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

After an injury-marred 2018 season in which he batted .186 with 18 homers and 53 RBIs in 89 games, Sanchez said that he is taking advantage of his improved health, including a successful recovery from left shoulder surgery.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"I think it's a really good thing that he's driving the ball again," Romine said. "He looks comfortable. I know we're all comfortable when he's hitting the ball out of the park. It was pretty special to see three balls go out, and he just missed a fourth one."“according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

The Yanks' offense is lacking Giancarlo Stanton, Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks among its key contributors -- all of whom hit 27 or more homers last year. No matter: Even with a different cast of characters, the Yankees slugged 14 homers during their weekend stay in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"You just can't miss in the middle on the other side of the plate," Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said. "Good players, they're going to hurt you. We just did it way too often this series."“according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

New York's first 18 runs of the series were scored via the homer, a streak snapped by Frazier's sixth-inning RBI single.”according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

"It's never too much for us," Boone said. "I am good with hitting as many as we need to."“according to https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/gary-sanchez-records-multi-homer-game-vs-orioles

Like New York, Houston won their previous game but instead of winning by a big margin like New York Houston only won by one over Oakland.

In looking for the most pivotal moment in the Astros’ scintillating 9-8 win over the A’s on Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, you can start where it ended -- Jose Altuve’s four-pitch, walk-off walk off relief ace Blake Treinen to force home Aledmys Díaz with the winning run.””according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

“We don’t know how to celebrate a walk-off walk very easily,” Astros manager AJ Hinch said. “They were stripping Altuve’s clothes off and throwing powder on them. We’ll take a win any way we can.”

The fact that Treinen, who hadn’t allowed an earned run since Aug. 23, 2018 and is one of the most dominant relievers in the game, issued four of Oakland’s eight walks is remarkable enough to carry the headlines, but that would be doing a disservice to the heroics of Diaz, Tony Kemp, Alex Bregman and Carlos Correa.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

Here are five pivotal moments that allowed the Astros to sweep the A’s and get back to .500:”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

Diaz hadn’t played in a week, going 0-for-9 and committing a pair of errors in the first weekend of the season against the Rays, but found himself making his first career start at first base Sunday. He cranked a homer on an 0-2 pitch off Mike Fiers in the first inning that gave the Astros a 5-2 lead, and scored the winning run after getting a single in the ninth.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

“That’s really, really good for him to sit out a whole week and come back,” Hinch said. “That was a frustrating start for him on a new team and to come up with the big homer early, the game could have played out where it’s wiped away. But he had the nice base hit at the end, too, to keep the ninth inning alive against one of the best closers in baseball.””according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

Correa, who made a great diving grab to rob Matt Chapman to start the ninth, fired an absolute laser from second base to Bregman at third to get Marcus Semien trying to stretch a double to a triple with no outs in the eighth. What made the throw, which followed a relay from right fielder Josh Reddick, even more remarkable is Diaz was a few steps ahead of Correa and tipped the throw as Correa was yelling at him to get out of the way.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

Bregman went 3-for-4 and recorded his only RBI on a sac fly in the eighth inning that scored George Springer from third with the tying run. Springer followed a Kemp homer with a bloop double and went to third on Altuve’s infield hit before sliding head-first across home plate just ahead of the throw from A’s center fielder Ramón Laureano, the strong-armed former Astros farmhand who already has three outfield assists this year.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

A’s reliever Lou Trivino had allowed only two base runners in 6 2/3 innings entering Sunday and proceeded to mow down the first four batters he faced when he came into the game in the seventh. Kemp burned him by turning on a 2-2 pitch and sending it 359 feet into the right-field seats to cut the lead in half and energize Minute Maid Park.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

“He made some good pitches and thankfully it went over the fence and [Stephen] Piscotty didn’t rob it for a catch,” Kemp said.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

Altuve’s walk-off walk

Treinen started off the at-bat against Altuve with a pair of 99-mph fastballs that almost hit him. The third and fourth pitch weren’t that much closer to the plate, giving Altuve his sixth walk-off RBI of his career and first since Aug. 16, 2015 against the Tigers. Altuve went 3-for-4 with two walks.”according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

“The only thing you want right there is to get a good pitch to hit and try to put it in play,” Altuve said. “He threw a couple of pitches up and in. I knew he felt a little uncomfortable. He didn’t have his control in that situation so I kind of like was really, really focusing on the pitch I wanted and if not, just take it.””according to https://www.mlb.com/astros/news/astros-top-a-s-on-walk-off-walk

First pitch is set for 7:10pm from Minute Maid Park. The game will be televised on ESPN and Yes.