CC outpitches Sale

BOSTON — One minute, CC Sabathia was seriously contemplating retirement. The next minute, the 37-year-old lefty was throwing a gem at Fenway Park in the middle of a playoff race. Sabathia came off the disabled list and pitched six solid innings, while Tyler Austin’s stunning three-run homer off Chris Sale in the second galvanized the Yankees in arguably their biggest win of the season, a 4-3 victory over the Red Sox on Saturday night.

With Aroldis Chapman demoted from the closer role, David Robertson stranded the bases loaded by striking out Xander Bogaerts to end the eighth. Dellin Betances recorded the final three outs for his ninth save in 11 chances.

Gary Sanchez couldn’t keep a strike 3 pitch in front of him that allowed Sandy Leon to reach first with one out in the ninth. But the 24-year-old catcher redeemed himself by throwing out pinch-runner Brock Holt as he tried to steal second.

Sabathia threw 80 pitches, while giving up two runs on four hits. He walked one and struck out four.

Sabathia felt significant pain in his right knee and left his Aug. 8 start in Toronto due to injury. He wondered if his career might be over. But an MRI the following day revealed no ligament damage, and Sabathia received a cortisone shot to ease the pain. The Yankees are four games behind Boston in the AL East race. The Yankees are 3-1 in Sale’s four starts against them in 2017. The Red Sox got within 3-2 in the fifth on Leon’s RBI groundout and Jackie Bradley Jr.’s RBI single. Todd Frazier hit his 21st homer to put the Yankees up 4-2 in the sixth. Rookie Yankee killer Rafael Devers made it 4-3 in the seventh when he hit his third career homer against the Bombers in five games.