Mets host Dodgers, Yankees take on Rays this weekend

This weekend the Mets host the Dodgers in a primetime series, while the Yankees look to continue their winning ways in a three-game set with the Rays.

The Mets send Jacob deGrom (3-1, 3.07 ERA) to the hill for Friday’s series opener. deGrom pitched one of his better games of the year when he faced the Dodgers in LA on May 10, allowing eight hits but only two runs in seven innings. He’ll have to watch out for Adrian Gonzalez though, as the dangerous slugger has gone 5-for-10 with two HRs against him.

Alex Wood (1-3, 4.03 ERA) responds for the Dodgers, and he’ll aim to improve on his woeful road form this season (0-3, 6.84 ERA, five starts), as well as his poor lifetime mark against New York (0-3, 3.94 ERA, eight starts). David Wright, riding a five-game hitting streak coming into this contest, is 3-for-9 in his career against Wood with 3 BBs.

Noah Syndergaard (5-2, 1.94 ERA) seeks his fourth straight win on the mound on Saturday, and he started his winning streak against the Dodgers on May 11 by allowing just two runs on six hits in eight innings. “Thor” has an impressive 26 strikeouts over his last three starts.

Kenta Maeda (3-3, 3.29 ERA) will attempt to rebound off a bad effort against the Mets on May 11 in which he allowed four runs on six hits and two walks in five innings as he and his team took the loss. Maeda has been vulnerable pitching with men on base (.268 BAA), so perhaps the Mets can improve on their league-worst stats with men in scoring position in this tilt.

The series finale is on ESPN on Sunday night, and it’ll feature Clayton Kershaw (7-1, 1.48 ERA) and Bartolo Colon (4-3, 3.44 ERA). The Mets will need to pick up on their microscopic .130 average as a team against Kershaw to have a shot at winning this one.

Colon’s last start was a dandy, just one run allowed against the Nationals on Monday, but his worst start of the year came against LA on May 12; five runs on seven hits in five frames.

Yankees

Masahiro Tanaka (2-0, 3.24 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Yankees in their series opener with Tampa on Friday night, and the Rays’ hitters have had no answers for Tanaka previously; Evan Longoria, Brad Miller and Logan Morrison are a combined 5-for-35 with 10 Ks against him.

Chris Archer responds for the Rays, and the season has certainly not been kind to him (3-5, 5.61 ERA). Jacoby Ellsbury will try to continue his incredible success against Archer (16-for-24, 4 BBs).

Michael Pineda (2-5, 6.34 ERA) takes the mound on Saturday afternoon, and he’ll be looking to put his dreadful start against the Rays on April 24 behind him (seven runs on 10 hits in five innings). Steven Souza Jr. has been a thorn in Pineda’s side throughout his career (6-for-12, 3 HRs).

Countering for the Rays is Matt Moore, who’s seen his ERA balloon from 2.95 to 5.47 in his last six starts. The Yankees tagged Moore for four runs on eight hits in a 6-3 win on April 22, with Mark Teixeira accounting for three of those hits.

The series closes on Sunday with Nathan Eovaldi (5-2, 3.95 ERA) on the mound for the Bombers. Eovaldi seeks his fifth straight win, and has given up just one run on three hits in his last two starts (12 IP).

Jake Odorizzi (2-2, 3.46 ERA) will try to match zeros with Eovaldi and perhaps go deep into the game; Odorizzi has failed to make it into the sixth inning in his last three starts, due mostly to his lack of control (eight walks in that span). Joe Girardi would be wise to save Brian McCann for this tilt, as the backstop has registered 12 hits, three of them homers, in 20 career at bats against Odorizzi.