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The Oakland Athletics take on the New York Yankees in the first game of a three-game series on Monday, May 8. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium. JP Sears (0-2, 5.06 ERA) will take the mound for the A’s, while Nestor Cortes (3-2, 4.91) looks to get back on track for the Yankees.
New York is a heavy -200 moneyline favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook, with Oakland coming in at +170. The total is set at 8.5.
Athletics-Yankees picks: Monday, May 8
Injury report
Yankees
Out: OF Aaron Judge (hip), DH Giancarlo Stanton (hamstring), SP Carlos Rodon (back), SP Luis Severino (lat), C Ben Rortvedt (shoulder)
Athletics
Out: SP Paul Blackburn (finger), RP Trevor May (personal), INF Aledmys Diaz (elbow), OF Seth Brown (oblique), C Manny Pina (wrist)
Starting pitchers
JP Sears vs. Nestor Cortes
Sears is coming off his first scoreless outing of the season, pitching six shutout innings against the Seattle Mariners. This was a much-needed bounce back from a six-run, 4.1-inning start before that against the Los Angeles Angels. The lefty struck out seven in his most recent appearance, but while he’s shown swing-and-miss stuff this year, he’s gotten hit awfully hard when he’s not missing bats and could give up plenty of homers against a Yankees offense that seems to be hitting its stride.
Cortes had a rough time against the Texas Rangers in his latest outing, giving up seven runs and three homers over just 4.2 innings. He had not allowed more than three runs in a start before that game. He still struck out seven batters in the rough start, though.
Over/Under pick
Neither of these teams bring particularly high-scoring offenses to the diamond. I don’t see the Athletics heating things up very much — as has been the case all season — and the Yankees are missing some of their biggest hitters due to injury.
Pick: Under 8.5
Moneyline pick
While the Yankees struggled in their latest series against the Tampa Bay Rays, this is a great opportunity for them to come back to their home stadium and pull things together against a team that does not have a ton to offer. Despite several stars being sidelined, the veteran Cortes should be able to get things done at Yankee Stadium.
Pick: Yankees