New York @ Boston preview

Last Meeting ( Aug 11, 2016 ) NY Yankees 4, Boston 2

The New York Yankees are surprisingly still in the American League wild card race, and could be sitting atop the AL East with a sweep this weekend. The Yankees, who are four games back in the division, will visit the first-place Boston Red Sox for the opener of a four-game series on Thursday.

New York missed a chance to gain a game in the standings when it suffered a 2-0 shutout in the rubber match of a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. The Red Sox were shut out as well, dropping a 1-0 decision to the Baltimore Orioles, and the Toronto Blue Jays fell, leaving the Yankees two games behind the second AL wild card with 17 contests left in the regular season. Boston dropped two of three to the Orioles to see its lead in the East trimmed to one game over Baltimore and watched its offense go cold over the last two games with a total of four runs scored. The Red Sox put only one runner in scoring position in Wednesday's setback as Xander Bogaerts (.217 batting average since Aug. 1) continues to struggle.

TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, MLB Network, YES (New York), NESN (Boston)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Yankees RH Masahiro Tanaka (13-4, 3.04 ERA) vs. Red Sox LH Eduardo Rodriguez (2-7, 4.70)

Tanaka has been outstanding over the last month and breezed through 7 1/3 innings while allowing one run and striking out 10 in a win over Tampa Bay on Saturday. The Japan native surrendered two or fewer runs in each of his last five starts and is 6-0 in his last seven outings. Tanaka earned a win over Boston at home on July 17 and has yielded a total of three runs in 12 2/3 innings against the Red Sox this season.

Rodriguez is winless in his last nine outings despite allowing three or fewer earned runs in eight of those turns. The 23-year-old Venezuelan was charged with two earned runs on four hits and a pair of walks in six innings at Toronto on Saturday but absorbed a loss in the 3-2 final. Rodriguez's last win came at New York on July 16, when he surrendered one run in seven innings, and he is 4-1 with a 1.88 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees.

WALK-OFFS

1. Red Sox All-Star RHP Steven Wright (shoulder) is expected to begin a throwing program next week and hopes to return before the end of the regular season.

2. Yankees rookie RF Aaron Judge (oblique) will miss the rest of the regular season, and the team signed free agent DH/1B Billy Butler.

3. Boston OF Andrew Benintendi (knee) was activated on Tuesday but did not get into either of the last two games.

PREDICTION: Yankees 6, Red Sox 2