MLB Game Preview - Oakland at NY Yankees

Fri Aug 30, 2019 7:05 PM EDT

Aaron Judge was showing signs of getting out of a massive slump when the New York Yankees opened a nine-game West Coast trip with a visit to the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 20.

Ten days later, Judge's slump is over, and the Yankees hope to see more of his production Friday night when they host Oakland in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.

Judge heads into Friday batting .277 with 18 homers, 42 RBIs and a .900 OPS. He went 14-for-39 (.359) on the trip with six homers and 11 RBIs and since going 0-for-5 in a 19-5 loss to Cleveland on Aug. 15, Judge is batting .383 (18-for-47).

"He went through that period of time where he didn't hit homers at all for a little bit. A lot of people were talking about it and asking why he's not hitting homers," Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez said of Judge through a translator. "I can tell you that I wasn't worried at all. I know what kind of talent he has, I know what he can do on the field.

"Right now he's hot. Thirty is not out of reach for him right now."

Judge helped the Yankees conclude the trip with five wins. He hit a two-run homer in Wednesday's 7-3 win at Seattle when Sanchez, DJ LeMahieu and rookie Mike Ford all went deep, giving the Yankees 250 dingers for the season, 70 in 28 games this month and 18 in their last six games.

"They're very resilient and very hungry," manager Aaron Boone said. "For us to take care of business the way we did today after the way we started this trip, to finish off the West Coast, it really says a lot about those guys out there."

Oakland swept a three-game series from the Yankees at home, and Friday could be a possible matchup of the division series. The Yankees are neck-and-neck with the Houston Astros for the American League's top record, and Oakland is competing with Cleveland and Tampa Bay for one of the AL's two wild-card spots.

The Athletics are 10-4 in their last 14 games and 26-15 since the All-Star break. Oakland heads to New York after holding on for a 9-8 victory Thursday afternoon at Kansas City. Jurickson Profar homered, rookie Seth Brown had four hits and Liam Hendriks converted a five-out save.

"We had to have this game," Oakland manager Bob Melvin said. "When you go through your entire bullpen and then go to Yankee Stadium - we had to win that game."

The first pitching matchup will feature a pair of veteran left-handers in New York's CC Sabathia (5-8, 4.99 ERA) and Oakland's Brett Anderson (10-9, 4.08).

Sabathia has pitched seven innings in two starts since returning from a right knee injury. He allowed two runs on five hits in four innings in a 2-1 loss at Los Angeles on Saturday, falling to 0-4 with a 7.31 ERA in his last six starts.

Sabathia is 11-12 with a 4.66 ERA in 32 career starts against Oakland.

Anderson is 1-4 with a 4.93 ERA in his last six starts after starting out 9-5 with a 3.82 ERA in his first 20 outings.

He last pitched in a 5-4 loss at San Francisco when he allowed three runs on six hits in six innings of a no-decision.

Anderson is 0-6 with a 6.86 ERA in eight career starts against the Yankees.

--Field Level Media