Los Angeles @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 26, 2014 ) LA Angels 3, NY Yankees 4

Few American League pitchers, if any, have been better than the New York Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka to begin the 2014 season. Tanaka's fifth career start comes Sunday night, when the Japanese right-hander will try to impress a national television audience in the finale of the Yankees' home series with the Los Angeles Angels. All eyes will be on Tanaka, who has struck out 35 batters - a franchise record through four starts - and has walked only two in his young major league career.

While Tanaka is undefeated on the season, so is Angels starter Garrett Richards, who has been terrific in three of his four starts. All three of Richards' strong outings in 2014 have come on the road and, while the 25-year-old right-hander has yet to allow a home run this season, Yankee Stadium will present a challenge in that regard. The teams have split the first two games of the weekend set, with New York drawing even Saturday with a 4-3 triumph behind three RBIs from backup catcher John Ryan Murphy.

TV: 8:05 p.m. ET, ESPN

PITCHING MATCHUP: Angels RH Garrett Richards (2-0, 2.52 ERA) vs. Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (3-0, 2.15)

Richards has allowed one hit in two of his last three starts, including Monday's 4-2 win at Washington in which he yielded one run over six innings. However, Richards walked four batters in that contest and has issued 14 free passes in 25 innings. No current Yankees player has ever homered against Richards, who is 0-2 with a 5.14 ERA in three career games - two starts - against New York.

Tanaka has worked at least seven innings in every start and has held opponents to a .202 batting average, although he has surrendered four home runs in as many games. Two of those came in his last outing - a 9-3 win over Boston on Tuesday in which the two solo home runs were the only blemishes in 7 1/3 innings against the 25-year-old rookie. In his last home start, Tanaka allowed two hits over eight scoreless innings in a 3-0 win over the Cubs.

WALK-OFFS

1. In 18 road innings this season, Richards has allowed a total of two runs and five hits, holding opponents to an .086 batting average.

2. Cleanup batters are hitting .417 against Tanaka this season - 5-for-12 - while every other spot in the order is batting a collective .250 or worse against him.

3. Mike Trout's first-inning home run Saturday was the Angels' league-leading 36th of the season, extending their franchise record for home runs accumulated by the end of April.

PREDICTION: Yankees 2, Angels 1