OAKLAND http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey , Calif. — card race meet in a possible postseason preview when the New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics hook up in a three-game series starting with a holiday matinee Monday afternoon.San Francisco Bay Area native CC Sabathia (7-5, 3.36 ERA) of the Yankees and fellow 30-something Trevor Cahill (5-3, 3.60) of the A’s draw the starting assignments in the opener of a series that could go a long way toward determining who hosts the AL wild-card game in October.The Yankees (86-51) will take the field with a 4 1/2-game lead over the A’s (82-56) for the top AL wild-card spot with four weeks remaining in the regular season.Article continues below ...New York took two of three from Oakland in an earlier series in May in which neither Sabathia nor Cahill pitched. The A’s blew a 6-2 lead and lost 7-6 in 11 innings in the turning point of the series after having won the opener 10-5.While the A’s were splitting a key four-game series against the Seattle Mariners, the Yankees on Sunday were completing a disappointing 3-4 homestand against the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers.Sabathia pitched one of the losses, allowing three runs and five hits in six innings in a 4-1 loss to the White Sox on Wednesday.The 38-year-old, who attended the same high school (Vallejo High, about 30 miles north of Oakland) as Coney Island hot dog-eating legend Joey Chestnut, has started 31 games in his career against the A’s, going 11-11 with a 4.55 ERA.He hasn’t often been at his best in his homecomings, going 5-7 with a 5.20 ERA in 16 starts.The Yankees will feature a different look than when the A’s saw them last with the recent acquisition of Andrew McCutchen from the San Francisco Giants.McCutchen has yet to get a hit in two games since joining New York, going 0-for-7.While they await the return of injured stars Aaron Judge, Didi Gregorius and Aroldis Chapman, the Yankees will get one familiar face back in pinstripes Monday when manager Aaron Boone returns from a one-game suspension that resulted from a tirade against umpire Nic Lentz in Friday’s win over the Tigers.Cahill has never beaten the Yankees in his career, going 0-4 in six meetings Felipe Vazquez Jersey , including five starts.Before watching Sunday’s 11-7 loss to Detroit from a suite, Boone noted that he’s expecting to see way more than just a starting pitcher when facing the A’s.“They’ve really bolstered their bullpen. It’s a pen that can shorten games,” Boone said of the recent additions of Fernando Rodney and Jeurys Familia to complement standout Blake Treinen. “They’ve (also) got some young players kind of take that step into stardom a little bit. We know we got our hands full.”The A’s got six solid innings from starter Edwin Jackson in Sunday’s 8-2 win over the Mariners that pushed Seattle 5 1/2 games back in the race for the second AL wild-card spot.A’s manager Bob Melvin was happy his club was able to take care of business against the Mariners, responding to losses Thursday and Saturday with wins Friday and Sunday, with the Yankees headed to town.“Certain times a split feels a little bit better than others,” he said. “This was one of them.” ATLANTA (AP) — Mike Soroka knows he doesn’t have to pitch perfectly when the Atlanta Braves keep scoring runs so often.“Everything’s just hard-hit baseball after hard-hit baseball,” Soroka said. “It’s contagious. It carries out to the mound for all of us.”Soroka won his eighth straight decision, Ozzie Albies homered and drove in four runs, and the surging Braves beat the New York Mets 12-3 on Monday night.Article continues below ...Nick Markakis hit a tiebreaking, two-run single in the fifth inning and Brian McCann reached five times and homered as the NL East-leading Braves improved to 13-3 in June, best in the majors this month.Atlanta, which scored 15 runs a day earlier against Philadelphia, has plated 90 runs in winning 10 of its last 11 — the best run the offense Atlanta has had over 11 games since 2006.“Everyone’s having just really good, solid at-bats Sean Rodriguez Jersey ,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “The takes are good. They’re not missing on pitches and getting good decisions on them. Everybody is just geared up and focused on their at-bats.”New York continued to struggle on the road, losing for the 12th time in 16 games away from Citi Field and dropping 8½ games behind the Braves.Soroka (8-1) gave up three runs, six hits and allowed just his third homer in 12 starts this year, a solo shot by Robinson Canó in the sixth. He walked one and struck out two in six innings.Soroka’s winning streak is the longest in the majors by a pitcher under 22 since Dontrelle Willis won the same number for the 2003 Florida Marlins, but the right-hander has given up eight earned runs over his last two starts, the same total he allowed over his previous eight outings from April 29-June 7. His ERA rose 20 points to 2.12.“The last couple of times I haven’t had the best feel for my slider, and a lot of times that’s the pitch we need for some strikeouts,” Soroka said. “But you keep attacking. It was good with the sinker and the changeup today. You’re still going to keep them off balance and you’re going to get outs.”Atlanta went up 5-2 in the fifth on Markakis’ opposite-field bloop single to left and Albies’ RBI single.The Braves led 2-0 in the first. Ronald Acuña Jr., the 2018 NL Rookie of the Year, hit his 17th homer, the 11th of his career to begin a game and the 22nd to begin an inning. Freddie Freeman singled and scored from second on first baseman Pete Alonso’s fielding error.New York cut the margin in the third when Alonso lined an RBI single to left. The Mets tied it at 2-all in the fifth on pitcher Zack Wheeler’s RBI single to left and made it 5-3 on Canó’s fourth homer.Wheeler (5-5) allowed five runs — four earned — and 10 hits in six innings.Reliever Jeurys Familia, whose ERA stands at 16.50 over his last six innings, was charged with three of the four runs that crossed in the seventh, turning a 5-3 deficit into a blowout. Albies lined a two-run single to right to begin the scoring.“We just stunk http://www.piratesfanproshop.com/authentic-josh-bell-jersey ,” New York manager Mickey Callaway said. “Again, we weren’t good. We’ve got to recalibrate what we’re doing and we have to do the job better. That’s just plain and simple.”McCann and Albies homered in the eighth.TRAINER’S ROOMMets: MRI results on RHP Noah Syndergaard’s right leg showed a low-grade hamstring strain. Syndergaard is on the injured list and will miss at least one start. … OF Brandon Nimmo, sidelined since May 21 with neck stiffness, is getting a second opinion. Callaway said there is no timetable for Nimmo’s return. … LHP Jason Vargas, who left Sunday’s loss to St. Louis with a left calf cramp, is expected to make his next turn in the rotation.Braves: LHP Sean Newcomb played catch before the game and has shown no ill effects from getting hit in the back of the head by a liner and leaving Saturday’s game. Snitker said Newcomb is not symptomatic other than where he got hit and is under no restrictions. The manager expects Newcomb to pitch out of the bullpen as soon as Wednesday.KEUCHEL’S DEBUTSnitker said LHP Dallas Keuchel is in line to make his Atlanta debut Friday at Washington, adding that the 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner won’t need a third minor league start to get ready. Keuchel went 12-11 with a 3.74 ERA in 34 starts last season for Houston.UP NEXTMets: RHP Jacob deGrom (3-6, 3.38 ERA) is 0-1 with a 2.38 ERA in his last five starts. In 18 career starts against Atlanta, deGrom is 6-6 with a 1.86 ERA.Braves: RHP Julio Teheran (5-4, 2.92 ERA) is 3-0 with a 0.81 ERA in his last eight starts. In 25 career starts and one relief appearance against New York, Teheran is 10-7 with a 2.35 ERA.