Preview: Cardinals at Yankees

[April 14, 2017]  The New York Yankees will look for a little more out of ace Masahiro Tanaka when he makes his 2017 home debut in the opener of a three-game series with the visiting St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night. Tanaka was pounded at Tampa Bay in his season debut and then gave up three runs on six hits and four walks in five rocky frames at Baltimore on Saturday.

However, the 28-year-old is 20-7 with a 3.31 ERA in his career at Yankee Stadium, where his team finished off a three-game sweep of Tampa Bay on Thursday. The Cardinals have dropped two of three in each of their first three series after salvaging the finale at Washington with a 6-1 triumph Wednesday. Stephen Piscotty homered and drove in five runs for St. Louis, which snapped a three-game losing streak in which it gave up an average of 10 runs. Michael Wacha gets the nod in the opener for the Cardinals as he makes his debut in Yankee Stadium.

TV: 7:05 p.m. ET, MLB Network, FSN Midwest (St. Louis), YES (New York)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Cardinals RH Michael Wacha (1-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (0-1, 11.74)

Wacha's effort to rebound from a rocky 2016 campaign got off to a great start Saturday against Cincinnati, whom he held to one run on three hits in six innings. The former first-round pick has won six straight decisions dating to last season and is now 9-3 with a 2.58 ERA in 16 career April starts. Starlin Castro is 10-for-22 with two homers and two doubles against the 25-year-old Wacha, who allowed three runs in seven innings in his only previous start against the Yankees.

Tanaka has surrendered 14 hits and walked six in just 7 2/3 innings of work so far while giving up two homers and hitting two batters. He won his last six decisions at Yankee Stadium in 2016 and New York was victorious in each of Tanaka's final eight outings at home. The one-time All-Star has never faced the Cardinals but owns a stellar 2.49 ERA in 10 interleague starts.

WALK-OFFS

1. The Yankees swept three games from the Cardinals in the only prior meeting in New York in 2003.

2. New York OF Aaron Hicks slugged two home runs in Thursday's win while starting in place of LF Brett Gardner, who is day-to-day with jaw and neck soreness - the result of a collision Wednesday against Tampa Bay.

3. Cardinals SS Aledmys Diaz is a career .374 hitter in April.

PREDICTION: Yankees 4, Cardinals 3

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