CC-ING DOUBLE
Chris Carter, Sabathia gem lead BOmbers in laughter over Bosox
The only thing missing from CC Sabathia’s performance on Wednesday night was a complete game.
Those days — and the days of the big lefty being an ace — are over, but that doesn’t mean Sabathia can’t still rise to the occasion.
He has proven that often so far this year and he did it again in Wednesday’s 8-0 victory over the Red Sox in The Bronx, as the Yankees got their lead in the AL East back to two games over secondplace Boston, with the help of Chris Carter.
Sabathia tossed eight scoreless innings in the victory and is now 6-0 with a 1.25 ERA in seven starts following Yankees losses this season. And in his last five outings — all after Yankees defeats — Sabathia has a 1.11 ERA.
Sabathia insisted he doesn’t think about that when he’s on the mound, but Joe Girardi appreciates how important it is.
“He’s been that guy his whole career you could turn to when you needed a big win and he still does it,” Girardi said. “There’s a lot of heart in that guy. You go back to when he was throwing every fourth day trying to win a champ for another team [Milwaukee in 2008], to what he did for us. We’ve always seen that.”
And even after surgeries to his elbow and knee, Sabathia has proven that he’s still capable of putting a rotation on his back, at least for a stretch.
With Masahiro Tanaka in the midst of the worst stretch of his career, Sabathia’s resurgence is especially well-timed.
“[Tanaka] has been holding us down for three years. We have to pick him up,” Sabathia said.
On Wednesday, that meant pitching eight innings for the first time in more than two years, Sabathia allowed just five hits — and no walks — and needed just 95 pitches.
Girardi didn’t consider sending Sabathia out to finish the game, even though he retired the last 12 batters he faced.
By then, though, the Yankees had a commanding lead, thanks to a leadoff homer by Didi Gregorius in the third and a three-run blast by Carter in the fourth.
Sabathia did face some drama in the top of the fourth, when he suffered an equipment malfunction.
With Sam Travis batting and one out, Sabathia had an issue with the brace he began wearing on his surgically repaired right knee during the final month of 2015. Travis followed with an infield single to first — on a play Sabathia, as usual, did not attempt to cover first. But Sabathia got Sandy Leon to hit into an inning-ending double play.
“That was weird and scary,” said Sabathia, who was able to get the repaired brace back after the inning. “I didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t feel any pain or anything, so that was good.”
He did display some fielding prowess in the fifth.
Josh Rutledge opened the inning with a triple. Sabathia got Jackie Bradley Jr. to hit a comebacker that he fielded with his bare hand to keep Rutledge at third. Deven Marrero flied out to shallow right and Mookie Betts popped to short to keep the Red Sox from scoring.
“It was right there, so I grabbed it,” Sabathia said.
Just another example of Sabathia’s good fortune. Since giving up five runs in six innings in a loss to Cincinnati on May 9, Sabathia has played the role of an ace, rolling off five straight wins thanks to regaining command of his cutter to control the inside part of the plate.
“We have a long way to go, but it feels good to be contributing,” Sabathia said.