First pitch: Thursday, 1:05 p.m. ET
Line: New York -125, Oakland +115 Total: 7.5

The last place Oakland Athletics and first place New York Yankees face off in a rubber-match in the Bronx on Thursday afternoon.

It has been a big drop for the Athletics this year after making tons of changes to their roster in the offseason and they currently sit in last place in the AL West after going 4-6 in a recent homestand before heading to New York. They have split the first two games since coming to the Bronx, and after a nice 4-3 victory in extra innings on Tuesday night; they were unable to win in another close game on Wednesday. In the 5-4 contest they had nine hits and made it close with two runs in the top of the ninth inning, but could not overcome an early departure by starter Scott Kazmir who left after three innings with tricep tightness. OF Billy Burns (.318) has been great at the top of this lineup and is riding a five-game hitting streak in which he is 8-for-23 (.348). The Yankees have flirted with first place all year and currently have a slight lead over Toronto in a very tight divisional race. They will look to make it two consecutive series wins at home if they can take down Oakland on Wednesday as they first took 2-of-3 from the Rays over the weekend. The offense was not totally together in the 5-4 win in the last game, going a mere 0-for-5 with RISP, but saw three of their nine hits leave the yard while starter C.C. Sabathia earned his first win in over a month. Two of the long balls came off the bat of 1B Mark Teixeira (.244) who is fourth in the AL with 22 four-baggers while leading all others with his 61 RBIs. The visiting Athletics will be sending RHP Jesse Chavez (4-8, 3.20 ERA) to the mound against one of the top offenses in baseball as New York hopes RHP Masahiro Tanaka (4-3, 3.94 ERA) can give them a quality effort. The road hasn’t been too bad for Oakland this year as they are 21-22 when away from home and will be going against this Yankees unit which is 24-16 when in front of their fans. There have been plenty of meetings between these clubs since the start of the 2013 campaign and the Athletics have dominated to the tune of a 13-5 record while being 5-3 at Yankees Stadium during that stretch. This year, Oakland has won 4-of-6 games after going 3-1 when they first met on the West Coast back in May. Some trends to watch in this one include that the Athletics are 44-36 (.550) against AL East opponents in the past three years, but have yet to win (0-6) in games where they are underdogs with Chavez toeing the rubber in the same timeframe. The injury report has OF Coco Crisp (Neck) still on the DL for Oakland as the Yanks are currently without OFs Jacoby Ellsbury (Knee), Slade Heathcott (Quad) and Mason Williams (Shoulder).

Chavez has been phenomenal since the Athletics have taken him out of the bullpen and placed him in the rotation as the second-year starter has actually improved on a breakout 2014 season. He has seen his strikeouts drop from 8.4 K/9 last year to 7.6 K/9 in 2015, but has been on point with his control (2.2 BB/9) and is allowing a mere 0.66 HR/9. All his efforts seem quite sustainable as well with a FIP (Fielder Independent Pitching) mark of 3.09 as batters are hitting .297 BABIP against him. His last three starts have been somewhat of a struggle, though, going 1-2 over a combined 17 innings of work with 12 runs allowed on 23 hits with 11 strikeouts. In his time against the Yankees (3 starts), Chavez is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA (1.05 WHIP) and was a beast (8 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 6 K) in a win against them back in May. SS Didi Gregorius (2-for-3) and 3B Chase Headley (2-for-5, 1 HR, 1 RBI) have done well against the righty in limited at-bats as OF Brett Gardner and 1B Mark Teixeira are a combined 5-for-23 (.217) in the matchup. The relievers for the Athletics have gone 7-17 with a putrid 4.36 ERA (1.31 WHIP) and are 18-for-30 (60%) in save chances. Tyler Clippard (2.52 ERA, 16 saves) is 16-for-18 (89%) with his save opportunities and has a 13:5 K/BB ratio with a mere three hits allowed over his last 10 appearances (11.1 IP).

Tanaka has shown flashes of brilliance this year, but has continued to struggle with injuries which have caused some inconsistencies. Most of his numbers across the board look just like last year’s as he is till striking out a ton of batters (9.3 K/9) and has walked a miniscule 1.8 hitters per nine innings of work. The biggest change from his rookie season is the home runs, and after allowing just 0.99 HR/9 in 2014, he has let 10 balls leave the park in his 59.1 frames (1.52 HR.9); including six over his last three outings. Those starts have not gone well with him giving up 16 runs (14 ER) on 23 hits with 16 strikeouts over 16 innings on the mound. He did well in his one start against the Athletics last year, earning a win after six innings of one-run, five-hit baseball with four strikeouts. Both OF Sam Fuld (2-for-3) and 3B Brett Lawrie (2-for-6) hit Tanaka well in a few at-bats, but 2B Ben Zobrist is hitless in his four plate appearances against the Yankee starter. New York’s bullpen has gone 14-9 with a 3.50 ERA (1.18 WHIP) and has successfully saved 27-of-33 (82%) games. Andrew Miller (1.65 ERA, 18 saves) made his return to the mound with a shaky save on Wednesday and is a perfect 18-for-18 in his save chances while owning an incredible 44:10 K/BB ratio with 10 hits allowed over 27.1 innings.