Atlanta (7-9) at NY Yankees (5-10)
When: Tuesday, April 20th 2021
Where: Yankee Stadium,
Bronx, New York
Time: 6:35 ET | TV: MLB.tv
Opening Odds: New York -130/9
Two teams with World Series aspirations will look to get back on the winning track when the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees begin a two-game interleague series on Tuesday night in the Bronx. The Braves sit in fourth place in the National League East after breaking out last night with a 13-4 thrashing of the Chicago Cubs on the road. Atlanta slugged four first inning home runs en route to the easy victory to get them within two games of the .500 mark. On the negative side, superstar Ronald Acuna, Jr. left the game with a abdominal injury after he was injured diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt. He would later score in that inning, but didn’t come back after that. Acuna is batting .419 with seven homers and 16 RBIs in 16 games thus far. New York is trying to recover from a 5-10 start and get out of the basement of the American League East. The Yankees were just swept by the Tampa Bay Rays at home over the weekend and have lost five in a row. They also started 5-10 in 1997, but ended up winning 96 games that season. New York managed just 11 hits and struck out 37 times in losing all three games to the Rays. Over the last 10 games, Yankee hitters are batting .194 with 94 strikeouts. The teams split four games during the shortened 2020 season with the home team winning each time.
Pitchers: Braves – Charlie Morton (1-1, 4.76) | Yankees – Jameson Tallion (0-1, 7.56)
Charlie Morton will get the start for Atlanta in this one and he is very familiar with the Yankees’ lineup. He allowed two runs in five innings of Tampa Bay’s Game 3 win in the 2020 American League Division Series against New York. Morton is 4-2 with a 3.83 ERA in 10 regular-season starts against the Yankees. He is looking to rebound after getting shelled for five runs and six hits against the Miami Marlins on Wednesday.
Jameson Tallion will make his third start as a member of the Yankee staff and was not sharp in his last outing. He allowed five runs in 3.2 innings last Tuesday against the Toronto Blue Jays in Dunedin, Fla. Tallion’s only previous start against Atlanta was on Aug. 31, 2018 when he allowed two runs in seven innings of a 3-2 win with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Yankees are one of the worst hitting teams in the league right now and they are striking out way too much for my liking. Morton definitely has the advantage over Tallion in this one and so does the Atlanta offense – even if Acuna is out.
Check out who Bobby Babowski has on his Free MLB Picks page for today.
Pick: Braves +110
