Unbeaten Jamie Shields takes to the mound against the New York Yankees Tuesday night in a quest to become baseball’s first six-game winner.
Recent history suggests he has a pretty good shot, too. The Tampa Bay Rays have won seven-straight over their division rivals, including a 3-0 sweep against them to open the season. But the Rays haven’t had a whole lot of luck in the Bronx, though. Despite their recent success against the Yankees, the Rays are 2-6 in their last eight games in Yankee Stadium.
If Shields wins, he will match Scott Kazmir as the only pitchers in team history to start the year 6-0. His ERA has dipped below 2 in his last five starts, but mirrors his team’s ineptitude at Yankee Stadium, losing his last three starts there with an overall record of 2-6. In 10 starts, he’s allowed 10 homers.
“You definitely have to be careful of the right-field wall, but for the most part, you have to concentrate on their hitters, who are dangerous no matter where you’re playing them,” he told his team’s website.
Robinson Cano has been his biggest nemesis, hitting .400 lifetime against Shields with four homers, five doubles and two triples.
But the Yankees haven’t played very well in division this year, losing that opening series to the Rays and being knocked around by the division-leading Baltimore Orioles last week. They scored a total of one run in their last two home games.
New York did, in fact, get back on track in its weekend series against the Kansas City Royals, capping it off with a 10-4 win Sunday night. Cano hit a grand slam in that game, and has decent odds to hit another home run tonight on Bovada’s Rays vs. Yankees Props page.
“We know what these guys are capable of doing and eventually it’s going to come,” manager Joe Girardi said.
Derek Jeter hasn’t had much problem so far, continuing his renaissance year 
with a league-high 16 multi-hit games. At .397, he’s just five hits away for tying Tony Gwynn for seventh on the all-time hits list. He has -275 odds to collect a hit tonight, according to Bovada’s Rays vs. Yankees Player Props.
The Yankees are favored by 1 1/2 runs by Bovada’s Rays vs. Yankees Betting Lines, with a -128 moneyline.