Tampa Bay @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2011 ) Tampa Bay 2, NY Yankees 4

THE STORY: The New York Yankees can make it a memorable day when they host the Tampa Bay Rays in a day-night doubleheader on Wednesday. A sweep of the Rays coupled with a loss by Boston to Baltimore would wrap up the American League East for the Yankees. After winning Tuesday’s series opener to reduce its magic number to reach the playoffs to two, New York needs to split with the Rays to clinch its 15th postseason berth in the last 16 years. Tampa Bay’s remote hopes of catching the Yankees are all but gone, but it remains two games back of the Red Sox in the AL wild card race.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, ESPN, SunSports (Tampa Bay), YES (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rays RH Jeremy Hellickson (13-10, 2.91 ERA) vs. Yankees LH CC Sabathia (19-8, 3.01).

Hellickson struggled with his control in his last start, walking four batters for the seventh time this season, but allowed only one run in 5 1/3 innings. He had his shortest outing of the season against the Yankees on Aug. 13, lasting only 4 1/3 innings and allowing four runs on eight hits. It marked the third time in 31 lifetime starts he allowed more than three runs. Hellickson won at Yankee Stadium on July 19, giving up two runs in seven innings. Sabathia will make his third attempt at win No. 20 when he faces Tampa Bay for the fourth time this season. He tossed a four-hit shutout against the Rays on July 10 and allowed only two hits in eighth innings against them 11 days later. The Rays got to Sabathia for five runs on 10 hits in eighth innings at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 10. The big lefthander has allowed 10 hits in five of his last nine starts, including at Toronto on Friday.

ABOUT THE RAYS (85-68): The only positive for Tampa Bay on Tuesday was not losing any ground in the wild card race. The Rays managed only six hits off rookie Ivan Nova and were shut out for the fourth time in the last 25 games. Evan Longoria extended his hitting streak to five games and is batting .317 with four homers and 15 RBIs in his last 17 games. Ben Zobrist, who is second on the team with 84 RBIs, missed Tuesday’s game to be with his wife for the birth of the couple’s second child. He is expected to rejoin the team Wednesday.

ABOUT THE YANKEES (93-60): Curtis Granderson continued his recent tear, supplying the game-breaking hit with a three-run double to give New York an early 4-0 lead. Granderson is 7-for-12 with eight RBIs in his last three games and leads the majors with 119 RBIs. His clutch hit and Ivan Nova’s superb pitching performance allowed the Yankees to overcome a staggering 18 runners left on base. Eric Chavez, Russell Martin and Brett Gardner had two hits apiece as the bottom of the Yankees’ order went 6-for-14 with four runs scored. Alex Rodriguez was hitless and remains one home run behind Ken Griffey Jr. (630) for fifth place on the all-time list.

FINAL PITCH: Derek Jeter had two hits to move past Cap Anson into 19th place on the career hits list with 3,082 – at least according to the Yankees PR department. There is a major discrepancy as to Anson’s hit total, with his career figures listed at 3,081 and 3,418 by different governing bodies. Major League Baseball lists Anson’s total as 3,418 after finally including his totals from the National Association, which preceded the National League. The Baseball Hall of Fame does not recognize the National Association statistics and lists Anson with 3,081.