JP Sears gets the start as Oakland begins a three-game series against the Yankees

Fresh off of scoring their first series win of the season, the Oakland Athletics will continue their road trip Monday when they begin a three-game series against the New York Yankees. Oakland took two of three from the Kansas City Royals over the weekend, winning the first two games of the series before falling 5-1 on Sunday.

The Yankees enter the series with an 18-17 record which has them last in the power house AL East. They are already 10 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays and 4.5 back of second place Baltimore. Injuries have played a big part in New York’s inconsistent start although they are expected to get Aaron Judge back from the injured list on Tuesday.

JP Sears will get the call for the A’s in Monday’s opener. Sears is coming off one of his best starts of the season where he limited the Mariners to four hits over six scoreless innings. That snapped a two start stretch where he had allowed 10 runs in 10 1/3 innings. Despite that hiccup, Sears has been one of Oakland’s most consistent starters logging at least five innings in four of his six starts.

The Yankees will counter with left-hander Nester Cortes who will be making his seventh start of the season. Cortes got off to a good start this season holding the opposition to two runs or less in each of his first three starts. However, he has wavered off late and is coming off his worst start of the season where he allowed five hits, four walks and seven runs in 4 2/3 innings against the Rangers.

Ryan Noda, Esteury Ruiz and J.J. Bleday led the way against the Royals with five hits each. Noda had three doubles, a triple and also scored four runs. Bleday was promoted to the majors on May 3 and went hitless in his debut. Since then, he is 7-for-14 with a double and two home runs. Ruiz stole three more bases over the weekend to take over the major league lead with 16.

Game Info

Game Date/Time: Monday, May 8, 4:05 p.m. PDT

Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

TV: NBCSCA

Streaming: MLB.tv

Radio: A’s Cast, Bloomberg 960 AM / 103.7 HD2