New York @ Tampa Bay preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 3, 2012 ) NY Yankees 3, Tampa Bay 4

The New York Yankees are fumbling away their lead in the American League East as the Tampa Bay Rays attempt to steal a playoff spot with another strong September. The Yankees, who led the East by as much as 10 games in July, had their lead over the Baltimore Orioles trimmed to one game with a loss to the Rays on Monday. Tampa Bay is 2 1/2 games behind New York and 1 1/2 games south of the Orioles in the wild card chase.

The Yankees got Alex Rodriguez back Monday but still could not halt their decline. After dropping two of three to the Orioles over the weekend and the opener to the Rays, the Yankees have lost nine of their last 13 to fall back to the pack. Tampa Bay, which combined a September surge with the Boston Red Sox’s collapse to gain an improbable playoff berth in 2011, has won three straight to pull out of its own slump and re-establish itself as part of the race. Chris Gimenez drove in two runs in Monday’s 4-3 win and the Rays got a strong start from James Shields.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, ESPN, YES (New York), Sun Sports (Tampa Bay)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Freddy Garcia (7-5, 4.90 ERA) vs. Rays RH Alex Cobb (8-8, 4.39)

Garcia has failed to complete five innings in each of his last two starts and was stuck with a no decision after allowing two runs on four hits in 4 2/3 innings at Cleveland last week. The veteran right-hander has allowed three earned runs or less in six of his last seven starts but has gone over six innings only once in that span. Garcia went 5 1/3 innings against Tampa Bay on July 2, allowing two runs and five hits in a no decision.

Cobb had the best start of his career on Aug. 23 against Oakland with a four-hit shutout but failed to follow that up with a win. The 24-year old surrendered a pair of home runs and was charged with four runs (three earned) and eight hits in 4 2/3 innings at Texas last week. Cobb worked seven innings at New York on June 6, suffering the loss while yielding four runs on five hits. Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano each homered off Cobb in that outing.

WALK-OFFS

1. Curtis Granderson (hamstring) struck out in a pinch hitting appearance in the ninth Monday. He has not started the last two games.

2. Tampa Bay has won 10 of its last 11 home games against New York.

3. Yankees SS Derek Jeter is 4-for-31 in the last eight games.