MLB features a full slate of games and several key contests starting Wednesday afternoon. Here’s what to expect from today’s important matchups.

Angels Continue Free-Fall against Yankees

The Los Angeles Angels play the second of their three-game series against the New York Yankees this afternoon in the Bronx. They have now lost six straight and are five games behind the NL West-leading Houston Astros. New York split their most recent series against Tampa Bay and continues to lead the NL East standings by 5.5 games over the Toronto Blue Jays. 

New York took the first game of the series last night 9-1 after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning while pounding the Angels’ pitchers for 13 hits. Starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery gave up just four hits and one earned run in seven solid innings for New York to get the win. The Angels will try to get their first win against the Yankees as Reid Detmers and his 2-2 record will go against Nestor Cortes, who is 4-2 and is second in the league in ERA at 1.70.

The Yankees win as their pitching dominates the Angels once again.

Blue Jays Inch Closer To Division Lead vs. White Sox 

The Toronto Blue Jays play the second of their three-game series with the Chicago White Sox tonight at Rogers Centre. Toronto is the hottest team in baseball right now and is looking for their seventh straight win. They recently made up three games on the AL East division-leading Yankees and are now just 5.5 games out of first place. 

The White Sox are also in second place in the AL Central and are chasing the Minnesota Twins, who lead them by five games in the standings. Chicago has lost three of the last four games and most recently split a pair of games against the Chicago Cubs at home before losing to Toronto last night 6-5.

Michael Kopech gets the start tonight for Chicago and is 1-1 with a 1.29 ERA in 42 innings pitched. Hyun Jin Ryu takes the mound for Toronto with his 2-0 record and 5.48 ERA, making his fifth start of the season.  

The White Sox get the win to end Toronto’s longest season streak.

Pirates Seek Fourth Straight Win Over Dodgers

The Pittsburgh Pirates look for the sweep tonight against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unfortunately, the NL West leaders can’t figure out how to beat the Pirates, as they’ve now lost four out of five games this season to the third-place team in the NL Central. The Pirates are 27th in the Majors with a .224 team batting average but have found a way to win against the team with the best ERA in baseball at 2.76. Pittsburgh is now 9.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the division standings.

In their last series, the Dodgers completed a four-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks and had won 13 of their previous 15 games before facing the Pirates this week. Pittsburgh dropped their last series against the Padres in San Diego, losing two games to them over the weekend. 

Jose Quintana will step on the rubber for the Pirates and is 1-2 with a 2.15 ERA in nine appearances. Mitch White gets his third start for the Dodgers and is 1-0 with a 4.60 ERA in 15.2 innings pitched. 

The Pirates win to complete a sweep of the struggling Dodgers.