(Sports Network) - The New York Yankees are back in the Bronx and have some favorable matchups ahead starting with tonight's opener of a four-game series versus the Oakland Athletics at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees will also host Toronto and Baltimore on the 10-game residency, and just took the last two meetings of a three-game road series against the Chicago White Sox. In Sunday's 2-1 victory at U.S. Cellular Field, Yankees starter Ivan Nova earned his first career win with 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts and one walk. Future Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera posted his 27th save in the ninth.
Francisco Cervelli had four hits and scored the decisive run on Brett Gardner's single in the top of the third inning. Marcus Thames homered in the win for the Yankees, who are tied with Tampa Bay atop the AL East standings and sit 6 1/2 games in front of Boston for the wild card lead.
"There was some different kind of games in this series," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said after New York's eighth win in 12 tries.
New York, which is 42-22 as the host this season, will send Dustin Moseley to the mound Monday and he's 4-2 with a 4.53 earned run average in 10 games (6 starts) this season. Moseley has won back-to-back starts and recently defeated Toronto on the road last Tuesday, allowing two runs and five hits in six innings of work.
The right-handed Moseley is 1-1 with 7.02 ERA in eight career games (5 starts) against the Athletics. Moseley may not have first baseman Mark Teixeira in the lineup because of an injured thumb and third baseman Alex Rodriguez is already out with a calf ailment.
Oakland will continue its 10-game road swing and is fresh off consecutive wins over the Texas Rangers. It improved to 4-2 on the trek with Sunday's 8-2 victory in the finale of a three-game set, as Kevin Kouzmanoff and Mark Ellis both homered for the A's, winners in eight of their last 12 contests.
Gio Gonzalez recorded the win and limited the AL West-leading Rangers to a pair of runs through six innings.
"Big win," A's skipper Bob Geren said on the team's site. "Just good baseball all the way around. Good pitching, good bullpen, swung the bats well, stole bases, safety squeezes. We threw everything we had at them and beat them."
The A's pulled within 7 1/2 games of Texas in the AL West standings and will hand the ball to Trevor Cahill Monday at Yankee Stadium. Cahill faced New York for the first time in his career back on July 6 this season and dropped a 6-1 decision by the Bay.
Cahill was hammered for all six runs and four hits, including two homers, through six innings of work. He has won six of eight decisions since and will shoot for his third straight triumph tonight. Cahill allowed one unearned run in seven innings of a 6-1 win at Cleveland last Wednesday, improving to 14-5 in 23 starts to go along with a 2.43 ERA.
The Yankees, who have won at least 80 games in 15 straight seasons, are 5-1 against Oakland in 2010 -- all at the Coliseum -- and 12-3 in the past 15 games in this series.