Athletics at Yankees
The Oakland Athletics have been a nemesis for the New York Yankees, but the Bronx Bombers finally managed to solve them by playing to their strength. New York's fourth homer of the game, a walk-off blast by DJ LeMahieu on Saturday, ended a four-game slide against the Athletics and gave the Yankees a chance for a series win in Sunday afternoon's rubber match.
Aaron Judge hit a tying blast in the eighth inning -- his sixth homer in eight contests -- before LeMahieu delivered the first walk-off homer of the season for New York, which beat Oakland for only the 13th time in 32 meetings since the start of 2015. Catcher Gary Sanchez went deep twice as the Yankees extended their major league record for home runs in a single month to 74 in their 40th comeback win of the season -- the best in baseball. Matt Olson homered among three hits in Saturday's 4-3 setback to improve to 10-for-24 entering the final stop of the seven-game road trip for the Athletics. Locked in a three-way duel with Cleveland and Tampa Bay for the two wild cards, Oakland will activate Sean Manaea off the injured list to make his season debut against fellow left-hander J.A. Happ on Sunday.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, TBS, NBCS California (Oakland), YES (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Athletics LH Sean Manaea (NR) vs. Yankees LH J.A. Happ (11-8, 5.57)
Manaea underwent shoulder surgery last year will make his first start in 53 weeks after manager Bob Melvin opted to give 13-game winner Mike Fiers an extra two days of rest. Although Manaea won 12 games in each of the past two seasons, the switch is a positive move for New York, which had won 13 in a row against left-handed starters before dropping the series opener. Judge is 3-for-5 versus Manaea, who won his lone start at Yankee Stadium with seven scoreless innings in May 2017.
Happ has alternated wins and losses since the All-Star break, picking up the victory at Seattle on Monday after allowing three runs on only two hits while striking out seven in his fourth consecutive stint of five innings or fewer. The 36-year-old lasted only four innings in his previous turn at Oakland, serving up a pair of two-run homers and giving up five runs on four hits. Marcus Semien is 9-for-21 with three homers and seven RBIs off Happ, who is 4-2 with a 3.96 ERA versus Oakland.
WALK-OFFS
1. Sanchez has 32 home runs on the season, one shy of tying his club record for catchers set in 2017.
2. Athletics LF Seth Brown is 11-for-25 over his first six careeer games.
3. Yankees LHP CC Sabathia was placed on the 10-day DL due to right knee inflammation.