Tampa Bay @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 12, 2011 ) Tampa Bay 5, NY Yankees 1

THE STORY: With the New York Yankees switching back to a five-man pitching rotation starting next week, Phil Hughes could be having his final audition for a starting job when he faces the visiting Tampa Bay Rays in the second of a three-game series Saturday. That pressure notwithstanding, Hughes could be understandably skittish after watching the Rays blast five home runs off Yankees ace CC Sabathia in Friday’s series opener. Jeremy Hellickson gets the start for Tampa Bay, which is 7½ games back of American League wild card leader New York.

TV: 4:10 p.m. ET, FOX

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeremy Hellickson (10-7, 3.05 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Phil Hughes (2-4, 7.11).

Hellickson has bounced back nicely after losing four consecutive starts in June. He is 3-0 in his last five starts, allowing a total of 10 runs and going at least seven innings in four of those outings. One of those victories came against the Yankees, when he gave up two runs on five hits in seven innings July 19. Brett Gardner, Mark Teixeira and Robinson Cano are all 2-for-5 against him. Hughes will be making his sixth start since returning from the disabled list after nearly three months. He was the losing pitcher in relief last time out in Boston, but had his best performance of the year in his previous start, throwing six scoreless innings against the White Sox. Hughes is 3-3 in 10 appearances (five starts) against Tampa Bay. Matt Joyce is 3-for-8 with two homers against him.

ABOUT THE YANKEES (71-46): New York could not muster much offense against Rays ace David Price in Friday’s 5-1 loss and dropped two games behind division-leading Boston in the AL East. Andruw Jones’ RBI double accounted for its only run. Teixeira had seemed to be finding a groove as July turned into August, but he is 4-for-31 with one homer and one RBI in his last eight games. Eduardo Nunez is mired in an 0-for-11 slump and also committed an error Friday. Sabathia may be starting to feel the heavy workload. He has allowed 29 hits in his last three starts after surrendering only 24 in his previous six outings.

ABOUT THE RAYS (64-54): Tampa Bay’s pitching has allowed one run or fewer four times during the five-game winning streak. The power surge was uncharacteristic of the Rays, who entered Friday’s game with 42 fewer homers than New York. Johnny Damon hit his 10 homer of the season and first since June 28, and Elliot Johnson belted his fourth and first since June 22. Evan Longoria extended his hitting streak to nine games and smacked his 100th career home run. He had four homers and 12 RBIs during that span. Casey Kotchman had his seventh multi-hit game in his last 10 to raise his average to .339.

FINAL PITCH: Alex Rodriguez got his first rehab start off with a bang, homering in his first at-bat at Class A Tampa on Friday night. Serving as the designated hitter, Rodriguez also had an RBI double in three at-bats.