THAT OLD FEELING
Sabathia turns back clock while hurling gem vs. rival Bosox
CC Sabathia bounced off the mound, and scooped a slow roller backhanded, flipping it to f irst base for the f inal out of the seventh inning. The 37-year-old unleashed a ferocious scream, and an equally powerful fist pump, running to the dugout on a right knee that has f inally grown kind enough to cooperate.
“I’m an old man,” Sabathia said. “That was just straight adrenaline.”
His performance was straight brilliance.
With the latest gem of his late career renaissance, Sabathia left the mound to chants of “C-C” from the Yankee Stadium crowd, having allowed just one run in the Yankees’ 8-1 win Friday night.
Sabathia (5-3), who had lost his previous two starts, has not dropped three games in a row since the start of 2015, and has lasted at least seven innings in three of his past f ive starts.
Since the start of last season, Sabathia is 12-0 with a 2.47 ERA following a Yankees loss.
“He was great. He’s been great all year. That might’ve been his best outing,” manager Aaron Boone said. “To kick off a homestand against them, I mean, that is a really good offense he was in complete command against. “Really, CC set the tone.” Sabathia faced early trouble, allowing a second-inning leadoff double to Steve Pearce, but the southpaw quickly re- tired three straight to keep the game scoreless. Then, with two on in the third, Sabathia forced cleanup hitter and MVP candidate J.D. Martinez to fly out to end the inning.
After Andrew Benintendi drove home Boston’s lone run with a two-double in the f ifth, Sabathia didn’t allow another hit. The lefty put down six straight batters, and lowered his ERA to 3.02. Sabathia allowed six hits and one walk, struck out five and threw 97 pitches (62 strikes).
Sabathia improved to 5-0 with a 1.95 ERA against Boston since the start of last year and is now 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA in nine home starts this year.
Though Sabathia may no longer be the ace, he may be the last pitcher the Red Sox want to see when the division race heats up.
“He’s just able to outsmart you pretty much,” Mookie Betts said. “He gets you out different ways. You can’t just sit on one thing because he mixes it up so much. He’s confident in everything he throws. There’s not a whole lot you can do when he’s moving the ball around in the zone and keeping it out of the middle.”