The Yankees will turn to Hiroki Kuroda (4-4, 4.12 ERA) to extend their four game winning streak against Scott Kazmir (7-2, 2.20) and the A’s. Kuroda had a seven inning, two run performance against the Royals on Saturday in his second succesful June outing. However, he was tagged with the loss after his offense, if you can call it that, went 1-17 with runners in scoring position. Kuroda seems to have gotten back on track, after going 2-3 with a 5.14 ERA in his first six starts he has settled down to 2-1 with a 3.30 ERA in his last seven.
Kazmir won his last start throwing seven shutout innings against the Orioles. In his start before that, at Yankee Stadium, he out pitched Kuroda, striking out 10 in 6 1/3 innings and allowing two runs in the no decision. The A’s would win 5-2 in extra innings
The A’s have won 12 of their last 17 against the Bombers. “They do things the right way,” Joe Girardi said. “They pitch extremely well, their defense is good. From an offensive standpoint, they hit the ball out of the ballpark. They run the bases. They make you work as a pitcher. They do a lot of things right.” But Friday night the A’s seven game home win streak against them came to an end in the shutout. “Right now, every win is a big win for us,” Mark Teixeira said. “We don’t have a huge margin for error.”
Notes on the game
Jacoby Ellsbury‘s hit streak is at 17 games. The streak is the longest by a Yankees center fielder since Melky Cabrera had an 18 game run in 2007.
Mark Teixeira has hit more home runs against the A’s (36) than against any other opponent. He has also hit 20 at O.co Coliseum, the most at any ballpark as a visiting player.
First pitch at 10:05 PM on Yes
