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 Sabathia had a lot to be excited about after striking out the Boston
Red Sox designated hitter with a fastball clocked at 94 mph to
preserve a tie game.
Two innings later, the rest of the New York Yankees had reason to
rejoice.
On a night when Sabathia turned in six effective innings, the
Yankees pulled out a 2-1 win over the Red Sox on Thursday on a
tiebreaking home run by center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury with one out
in the seventh.
"I was fired up," Sabathia said. "Walking Jackie Bradley was
definitely a big mistake, getting the ground ball up the middle, I
ended up walking Bogaerts but made a good pitch to get Papi (Ortiz)
out."
Sabathia helped the Yankees get to the seventh in a tie game,
allowing one run and three hits. He also struck out eight and walked
three during a 99-pitch outing, which also was his first since
spending time in a hospital last week for dehydration after pitching
in the Texas heat.
The left-hander, who has never come close to losing his spot in New
York's rotation reached the fifth with a 1-0 lead but gave up a
two-out RBI single to right fielder Rusney Castillo and threw four
straight pitches out of the strike zone to shortstop Xander
Bogaerts.
He fell behind Ortiz 1-0 but got consecutive strikes with his
breaking ball before ending the fifth with a strikeout.
"He saw the breaking ball a couple of times for strikes," Sabathia
said. "He hadn't seen the two-seamer in and it ran just enough to
get him off of it."
"They had a plan about how to get Ortiz out and they had faced him a
couple of times up until that point," Yankees manager Joe Girardi
said. "A lot of times you want to mix up your patterns but you know
how you want to get outs. There were a couple of discussions and it
worked."
The Yankees did not do much off Boston left-hander Eduardo
Rodriguez, getting an RBI double by designated hitter Alex Rodriguez
in the third. Like the Red Sox, New York also left the bases loaded
in the fifth but when Rodriguez did not locate a 2-1 slider,
Ellsbury drove it into the second deck for his fifth home run,
marking the 12th straight games the Yankees have homered in.
"The young kid was tough on us again and has a very good arm and we
got just enough," Girardi said.
Sabathia's effort and Ellsbury's home run kept the Yankees (61-46) 4
1/2 games ahead of the Toronto Blue Jays in the AL East. The teams
will play six times in the next nine days.
"He looked great," New York left fielder Brett Gardner said of
Sabathia. "From the get-go, he was in command of all his pitches. He
was down in the zone and he looked really good."
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After Sabathia's outing ended, Justin Wilson (4-0), Dellin Betances
and Andrew Miller pitched a scoreless inning apiece.
Wilson gave up a two-out single to Bradley but struck out Castillo.
Betances gave up a two-out single to left fielder Hanley Ramirez but
struck out first baseman Mike Napoli.
Miller put two on with two outs in the ninth but fanned Castillo on
three pitches for his 24th save in as many opportunities, sending
the Yankees to their 13th win in 19 games and Boston to its ninth
loss in 10 road games.
"We had an opportunity in the fifth, eighth and ninth (with runners)
in scoring position," Boston manager John Farrell. "We had plenty of
opportunities to cash in."
While Boston's offense generated only six runs in the series, its
starting pitching was effective again. Following a decent debut by
Henry Owens and an outstanding effort by knuckleballer Steven
Wright, Rodriguez allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings
with his most significant mistake being the pitch to Ellsbury.
"I wanted it down and away," Rodriguez said. "I just missed one."
NOTES: New York C Brian McCann (left knee) was held out of the
starting lineup for the second straight game. He was injured in the
seventh inning on Tuesday when he blocked several pitches in the
dirt. An MRI exam Wednesday showed some inflammation around the MCL
area. ... Boston RF Rusney Castillo batted leadoff for the first
time in his career and higher than fifth in the lineup for the first
time. ... The Yankees said rookie RHP Luis Severino would make his
next start Tuesday in Cleveland. ... Boston OF Mookie Betts
(concussion) saw a specialist in Pittsburgh on Thursday. He will
rejoin the team Friday in Detroit but is not ready to return. The
Red Sox said he passed concussion tests.
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