First pitch: Tuesday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Toronto -140, New York +130, Total: 8.5

The Yankees will be looking to win their third consecutive game when they host the Blue Jays on Tuesday.

Toronto is currently battling for the top spot in the AL East, but the team currently finds itself playing against a New York team that is also playing desperate right now. The Yankees want to grab one of the two AL Wild Card spots, but they do not have much room for error. They need to continue to win series after series, and they did get off to a good start in this one by taking the first of a three-game set with Toronto on Monday. The Yankees won that one 5-3 and now send RHP Luis Cessa (4-0, 4.17 ERA, 23 K) to the mound against the Blue Jays’ RHP Aaron Sanchez (13-2, 2.88 ERA, 134 K). One thing that favors Toronto in this game is the fact that the team is 92-51 against the money line as a favorite of -125 to -175 over the past two seasons. New York, however, is 67-56 against the money line when playing on a grass field this season. SS Troy Tulowitzki (Rest) should be back in the lineup for the Blue Jays after getting Monday off.

Aaron Sanchez is set to start this game for the Blue Jays on Tuesday and the young righty has been excellent this season. One thing that makes him so good is the fact that he doesn’t allow many homers. In fact, Sanchez has allowed just 11 on the season and that is something that should help against the Yankees. New York is a powerful team, so keeping its players from going yard would be big for Sanchez and the Blue Jays. Offensively, the Blue Jays could use some timely hits from guys like 1B/DH Edwin Encarnacion (.268, 36 HR, 110 RBI) and 3B Josh Donaldson (.294, 34 HR, 92 RBI) in this one. Donaldson was 0-for-2 in Monday’s loss to the Yankees and the Blue Jays need him to be better than that on Tuesday. Encarnacion, meanwhile, was 3-for-4 and Toronto would gladly take another performance like that from him.

The Yankees have won two straight and another victory on Tuesday would be really big for them. They’ll have Luis Cessa on the mound and he has pitched very well since joining the rotation. Over his past three starts, Cessa has allowed just six earned runs in 18.0 innings of work. Each of those starts went six innings and it’d be huge if he can give the Yankees another quality start in this one. He will, however, need to be a bit more careful in this one. Cessa has given up two homers in each of his past two starts and that just might be a recipe for disaster against an explosive Toronto offense. The run support in this one could come from a number of different players, but OF Jacoby Ellsbury (.268, 7 HR, 49 RBI) is one guy that is swinging a hot bat for New York. He has seen his average rise from .262 to .268 over the past 10 games and has racked up two homers and nine RBI in that time. He homered and drove in three RBI in Monday’s game and could be in for another big day on Tuesday.