The New York Yankees are rolling, and oddsmakers like their chances to take aim at a second consecutive sweep of an NL East club Wednesday night when they complete a set at the Atlanta Braves.
Ivan Nova helped New York to a fourth straight win on Monday by tossing the first seven innings of a 3-0 blanking of the Braves. The victory came with the Yankees 115 road favorites and lifted them into a tie for first in the AL East with the Tampa Bay Rays.
New York was priced at -160 for Tuesday's contest with ace CC Sabathia on the mound at Turner Field. Mike Minor was the scheduled starter for the Braves.
Wednesday's series finale will be broadcast by ESPN starting at 7:00 p.m. (ET). Hiroki Kuroda takes his turn in the Yankees' rotation opposite Atlanta's Tim Hudson.
The win on Monday continued New York's dominance of the Braves in their own park. The clubs met in the 1996 World Series and the Yankees took all three games played at Fulton County Stadium, then won both meetings played at Turner Field in sweeping the '99 Fall Classic. Nine regular season interleague contests in Atlanta have ended in seven victories for New York.
Kuroda has been comfortable pitching in Yankee Stadium so far this year, winning four of those six starts with a 2.79 ERA. It's been a different story on the road, however, where New York has lost five of Kuroda's six assignments with his ERA at 4.17 and batters hitting 36 points higher than in the Bronx.
He mastered the Mets at home in May with seven, 1-hit innings, Kuroda's only interleague start since joining the Yankees this past winter.
Hudson hurled a 5-hit shutout at Miami last Tuesday, then missed his regular turn in the order on Sunday due to a sore left ankle. He also worked 7-2/3 innings of a 2-0 shutout at Tampa Bay on May 20, his only interleague contest of 2012. Hudson's only start vs. the Yankees since joining the Braves was at New York in 2006, and the Bronx Bombers cuffed him for five runs over five innings in a 5-2 victory.
Red-Hot CJ Wilson Wraps Freeway Series For Angels
The Angels are also heading into play Tuesday with a 4-game win streak after rallying for a 3-2 triumph at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday. Mike Scioscia's club was a small 110 favorite for that tilt, and were once again slight chalk at most sports books monitored by Don Best Odds for Tuesday's contest. Jerome Williams was scheduled to start for the Halos against Aaron Harang of the Dodgers.
An Angels win on Tuesday would put them in contention for a second consecutive road sweep of an NL West club Wednesday (10:10 p.m. ET) when the series comes to a close at Chavez Ravine. The starting pitching matchup should heavily favor CJ Wilson who squares off with Nate Eovaldi.
Wilson has been solid all season, but especially so of late when the Halos needed him most while Jered Weaver is on the DL. The southpaw has pitched the Angels to victories his last four starts (0.64 ERA), and the club is 9-4 behind the free agent acquisition on the season.
Wednesday will mark Wilson's first start vs. the Dodgers and first-ever appearance at Chavez Ravine. He faced them once from the bullpen while with the Rangers in a game played in Texas.
Eovaldi was recalled from the minors to take Ted Lilly's rotation slot a couple of weeks ago, and though he's pitched well in three assignments (1.93 ERA), neither he nor the club has a win to show for his efforts. The young righty out of Alvin, Texas will be facing the Angels for the first time in his short career.
The Dodgers and Angels meet again June 22-24 in Anaheim to complete their annual home-&-home series. This is a series the Halos have dominated overall (51-36) as well as recently. Monday's victory left the Angels 10-3 in the last 13 affairs, and 9-2 in the previous 11 at Dodger Stadium.