CC hits K milestone in 2nd straight solid start

There was a fair amount of nostalgia surrounding CC Sabathia’s outing Tuesday, as he picked up his 1,500th strikeout with the Yankees when he fanned Washington’s Michael A. Taylor in the fourth inning. But for the Yankees and the veteran left-hander, the focus remains on what Sabathia can do for the Yankees now — and not just what he’s done in the past. And in the Yankees’ 3-0 win over the Nationals in The Bronx, Sabathia delivered his second straight solid start after four consecutive shaky outings.

He used an effective slider to hold Washington scoreless for his 5 2/3 innings — and Sabathia even managed to make a pair of plays on the mound.

Sabathia got to Pedro Severino’s ball to end the top of the fourth and threw out Daniel Murphy to start the sixth before Taylor reached on a dribbler to end Sabathia’s evening two batters later.

“That was too much,’’ Sabathia said of being tested on defense. “A couple times is good. Three is too much.”

It was about his only complaint on the night.

Sabathia got out of trouble in the second, when Wilmer Difo popped to center with two runners on to end the inning.

And after a leadoff single by Adam Eaton in the third and a one-out walk to Bryce Harper, Gleyber Torres made a fine play in shallow right on a flare by Anthony Rendon before Murphy popped to short.

“He was good again,’’ Aaron Boone said. “He had a little trouble in the early innings putting guys away with two strikes. I thought they made it hard on him and extended some at-bats. His stuff was there.”

And while he struck out only three, he was able to reach another milestone with 1,500 strikeouts.

Sabathia was clearly caught off guard when the crowd gave him an ovation after he whiffed Taylor in the fourth.

“I didn’t know what was going on,’’ said Sabathia, who has 2,893 total strikeouts. “Everyone keeps talking about how I’m close to 3,000 [career strikeouts] … but 1,500 is a cool stat.”

Boone was impressed by Sabathia’s ability to be as good as he’s been for so long.

“He’s been everything you could’ve hoped for when the Yankees went out and signed an ace to their staff,’’ the manager said of Sabathia, who improved to 11-0 with a 2.55 ERA in 17 regular-season starts following a Yankee loss since the beginning of 2017. “He continues, deep into his career, to be an impact guy.”