To evaluate his fastball, CC Sabathia said he watches the way hitters swing against it.
“Just a lot of late swings. The ball getting on guys,” the Yankees lefty said last night regarding what he saw from the Angels when he threw his heater. “Just a good feeling.”
Sabathia saw his fastball blaze to a crackling 95 mph once last night and hit 94 mph several times. It was part of his victorious performance in the Yankees’ 14-7 romp, one that ended his winless streak at six starts, which matched a career high, and gave him his first win since July 3.
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Sabathia was enduring a stretch that ranked as an ugly and alarming chapter in his Yankees history. In his previous six starts, he’d gone 0-4 with a 7.00 ERA. Only two other times in his career had he logged six starts without a victory, both coming with the Indians — in 2002 and 2003.
While Sabathia got the win, his outing was filled with some rough patches. He fired six-plus innings and allowed just three hits and two earned runs (three runs overall). He struck out seven, but also walked a career high-tying six — including Mike Trout with two outs in the first inning after Vernon Wells failed to catch a foul pop. Mark Trumbo then belted a two-run homer. He was victimized by two errors in the third and allowed an unearned run.
“Just battling,” Sabathia said. “I feel like I had pretty good stuff.”
After the Yankees took a 4-3 lead in the fifth, he nearly gave it back in the sixth but got a huge break when Chris Nelson was punched out on a questionable call for leaving third base early on what would have been a sacrifice fly.
Sabathia has now delivered two encouraging starts in a row — he surrendered three runs in seven innings in his previous outing, against the White Sox — but is still not dominating in any capacity. The Angels are not a good team, especially with Albert Pujols and Howie Kendrick on the DL. (the team is essentially Mike Trout and eight outs), so this wasn’t an All-Star lineup that Sabathia was facing.
Still, the 33-year-old is at least faring better than he was. He’s now 10-10 with a 4.66 ERA, with his next start coming Sunday night at Fenway.
“Thought CC was excellent,” Joe Girardi said. “He probably should have pitched about eight innings with as many outs as he got. We gave him a lot of extra outs and he kept them in check.”
—Additional reporting by Dan Martin