The Yankees begin the first of seven straight games in California. Oakland comes in having lost four straight and eight of 10. Poor hitting and bullpen issues have plagued the A's. Although rookie pitcher James Kaprielian has been stellar at home with a 1.47 ERA, the Athletics' issues in the latter innings will continue to haunt them.

The Yankees are riding high with an 11-game winning streak. They had to fly across the country, but had Wednesday off, so they're fresh. Starter Jameson Taillon is on a run in which the Yankees have won eight of his last nine starts. He has a 2.01 ERA in that stretch and six of those nine starts have come on the road. The A's are reeling, having lost eight of their last 10 and they only have a +2 run differential at home all season. Starter James Kaprielian has been good, but the A's have had issues late in the game and the Yankees' offense is averaging 5.5 runs per game during this winning streak.

This is not what the A’s wanted to see as September approaches. Their ace Chris Bassitt is out injured, they’ve lost four games in a row, fallen 1.5 games out of the final wild-card spot and the Yankees come to town riding an 11-game win streak with a pitching staff that is inducing hitting slumps for every team it faces. The Yanks also have won seven straight behind tonight's pitcher, Jameson Taillon.