The red-hot New York Yankees travel on the road to the Oakland Coliseum to take on the Oakland Athletics, who have lost their last four games. New York is the hottest team in the MLB in the second half of the season, they’ve won eleven straight games and have moved into the top AL Wildcard spot. The Athletics have lost eight of ten, and fallen out of the AL playoffs if the season were to end today, they trail the AL West-leading Astros by 5 games.
The Yankees made huge additions at the deadline with additions of Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo and the bats have woken up since, they’re still 20th in the MLB hitting .237 as a team and 20th in the league in scoring offense. Aaron Judge continues to deliver big numbers leading the Yankees hitting .285 with 27 homeruns and 65 RBIs. Gian Carlos Stanton drove in three runs on a home run in the Yankees last game, boating his season totals to 22 homers and 65 RBIs.
Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will get the start and has settled down after a sluggish mid-year run, he’s 12-6 with a 2.92 ERA and sub-one WHIP on the season. Cole is second in the MLB in strikeouts with 191 and struck out six in a scoreless six-inning outing in his last start, he allowed five hits as the Yankees breezed past the Twins with a 7-1 win.
The A’s have had similar offensive struggles, especially as of late, scoring just 10 total runs across their four-game losing streak. Matt Olson has had a very productive season leading the team with 32 homeruns and 82 RBIs while hitting what would be a career-high .278. Olson is fifth in the MLB in homeruns. Across the diamond, Matt Chapman is struggling to hit .221 with 19 homeruns and 57 RBIs.
Sean Manaea will get the ball and continues to be a solid MLB level starter, he’s 8-8 but has a top-30 ERA (3.77) and WHIP (1.24). It’s about on par with his career numbers where he has a career 3.83 ERA and 1.20 WHIP on his career but has struggled in his last three starts, allowing 12 runs in 10 innings and the walk numbers have spiked in that short stint.
