A's starter Hahn looking forward to facing Yankees

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Oakland Athletics right-hander Jesse Hahn is no stranger to the mystique and history of the New York Yankees. He grew up in Connecticut, watching countless Yankees games on television, even though much of his family was from Pittsburgh and he was a Pirates fan.

But it was while Hahn attended Virginia Tech that he became a true fan of the Yankees.

"When I was in college at Virginia Tech after the massacre we had there in 2007, they came and played a memorial game for us and donated money to the school," Hahn said Friday. "I've always had much respect for those guys. It's cool just to be pitching against the New York Yankees."

On April 16, 2007, a student at Virginia Tech shot and killed 32 people at the university before killing himself.

Hahn will make his third career start against the Yankees on Saturday afternoon in the third of a four-game series at the Oakland Coliseum when the A's will try to make it three straight wins against New York.

Oakland won the series-opener 8-7 in 10 innings on Thursday night and beat the Yankees 7-6 on Friday night, handing them their season-high fourth straight loss.

"It's part of the game, every team's going to go through it," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of the skid. "I'm pleased with the way we keep fighting back and that will bode well during the course of the season. Right now, our bullpen's been in a little bit of disarray. We'll get that straightened out."

Hahn is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in two starts against the Yankees, both at the Coliseum.

"This is a complete different lineup over here, a very strong one," Hahn said of the Yankees. "I believe they're one of the best in baseball. So I've got to go out there and pitch my game and have confidence out there tomorrow."

Rookie right fielder Aaron Judge went 2-for-3 with his major league-leading 23rd home run, a three-run shot, on Friday, and first baseman Chris Carter had a solo home run for New York.

The Yankees had plenty of offense, despite having four regulars out of the lineup. Catcher Gary Sanchez (strained groin) and center fielder Aaron Hicks (strained Achilles tendon) were out with injuries and remained day-to-day. Left fielder Brett Gardner and shortstop Didi Gregorius had scheduled days off, although Gardner pinch hit in the ninth.

Mason Williams, who was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and started in center, had a hit and scored a run.

Hahn will make his third start since a stint on the disabled list with a strained right triceps. He's 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA in his past two starts and 2-4 with a 3.56 ERA for the season.

On June 6, Hahn allowed one run on seven hits in a 4-1 victory against Toronto at the Coliseum. Then on Sunday on the road against Tampa Bay, Hahn had a no-decision in a 5-4 loss. Hahn gave up three runs -- all in the fifth inning -- on seven hits.

"I thought the last one went well," Hahn said. "I just had that one inning where they strung together a couple good hits. I'm not going to say I was hit hard, because I don't think I was by any means. But they had a good approach on me that inning and were able to get some timely doubles, timely hitting. I gave up three and was able to get out of it after that."

Hahn has allowed one home run in 60 2/3 innings and will face a Yankees team that has hit 108 homers, the most in the major leagues

Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka (5-6, 6.55 ERA) will make his 14th start of the season. In his last start, he gave up one run on two hits over seven innings with eight strikeouts and two walks in a 16-3 victory against Baltimore.

Tanaka had a no-decision in his only career start against the A's, a 7-3 loss on April 21, 2016. He allowed two runs on seven hits over six innings, struck out four and walked none.