Yankees, Sabathia beat Jays 6-4

TORONTO — When you reside in the AL East, splitting six games to start the season on the road and losing your starting first baseman to the disabled list isn’t something to get stoked about.

Yet, when the Yankees’ six-game trip — which started with two defeats — is analyzed deeper than just the math, it looks a little bit better than even because of Masahiro Tanaka’s and Michael Pineda’s respective pinstriped debuts.

And for five innings Sunday against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre you could have added a sick CC Sabathia bouncing back from a pedestrian Opening Day outing in Houston to the positive vibe Tanaka and Pineda provided.

Sabathia was the winner in a 6-4 victory that was witnessed by 34,067, but a three-run Toronto rally with two outs in the sixth made the large lefty work harder than he did in any of the previous five frames.

“It’s better than going home 0-6,’’ said Sabathia, who pitched with a severe head cold.

Three wins in the last four games sent the Yankees home for what will be an emotional Monday at Yankee Stadium, where Derek Jeter will play in his final home opener.

Jeter moved past Paul Molitor on Sunday into eighth place on the all-time hit list with two singles that hiked his total to 3,320. Jeter went 2-for-5.

Working with a fastball that didn’t get much above 90 mph, Sabathia gave up a leadoff homer to Melky Cabrera on a cut fastball in the first, then allowed nothing more across the next four innings.

“I felt good. I threw the fastball more, worked it in and out,’’ said Sabathia, who gave up four runs, seven hits, fanned six and didn’t issue a walk.

Sabathia (1-1) retired Cabrera and Maicer Izturis to start the sixth but gave up an RBI double to
Dioner Navarro and a two-run single to Erik Kratz that cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-4.

Following a chat with pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Sabathia faced Brett Lawrie. During the at-bat, catcher Brian McCann went to the mound to make sure they were clear with what they were going to throw Lawrie.

“He wanted a slider and I wanted a fastball up — we went with the fastball,’’ Sabathia said of the pitch Lawrie hit in the air to center for the final out of the inning.

Adam Warren worked a perfect seventh, Shawn Kelley hurled a scoreless eighth and David Robertson recorded the final three outs for his second save in as many chances but had to sweat the Blue Jays getting runners on first and second with one out.

Sabathia was supported by a three-run first inning that was highlighted by Kelly Johnson’s two-run double and a three-run fourth, when Brett Gardner hit a two-run homer, the first of the year for the Yankees.

On Opening Day in Houston, Sabathia surrendered four runs in the first inning and two in the second. He finished with four scoreless innings and outside of Cabrera’s jolt to start Sunday’s game, Sabathia built on those four scoreless innings against the Astros.

It wasn’t until Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion singled back-to-back with two outs in the sixth that the Blue Jays batted with a runner in scoring position.

“Other than that I pitched pretty good,’’ Sabathia said of the sixth.

Joe Girardi didn’t let the sixth get in the way of Sabathia’s overall performance.

“Where he got hurt was when he got pitches up. For 5 ²/₃ innings he was very good. He was down in the zone and changing speeds.’’

When the Yankees pulled into Houston, Tanaka and Pineda hadn’t pitched. Robertson hadn’t been asked to save a game. And then they dropped the first two games.

So, the 3-3 ledger they take into Yankee Stadium on Monday isn’t something to celebrate, but it does look a little better than even.