NO RUN SUPPORT: A glum CC Sabathia (center), who will be pitching in Game 4 tonight, Hiroki Kuroda (left) and Andy Pettitte look on during the Yankees’ 2-1 loss to the Tigers in Game 3 of the ALCS last night in Detroit. (
)
DETROIT — CC Sabathia will start tonight trying to save the Yankees’ season once again.
He got the Yankees to the ALCS with a complete-game performance in Game 5 of the ALDS against the Orioles, but he faces an even more difficult challenge in Game 4 against the Tigers.
The Yankees are down three games to none after a 2-1 loss at Comerica Park last night and their offense has completely gone in the tank, so unless Sabathia hits for himself, he may not be able to pick up another win.
Still, the Yankees are counting on him to give them a glimmer of hope.
“You don’t want to be down 3-0, but if you are, you want CC on the mound,” Brett Gardner said.
And although Joe Girardi said he never considered it, the manager had been asked whether he would use Sabathia on short rest for last night’s game instead of Phil Hughes.
“I don’t think there was any talking my way into it,” Sabathia said. “I think they had it pretty much set that Phil was going to throw Game 3 after we went five [games] with Baltimore. So there was no point wasting my breath and trying to do that.”
Perhaps he should have.
Hughes was forced to leave last night’s game with a stiff back in the fourth inning and Girardi had to piece together the rest of the game with the bullpen.
But with the Yankees’ bats silenced once again, this time by Justin Verlander, it likely wouldn’t have mattered if Sabathia was on the mound.
They will have to do better tonight, but Sabathia said the lack of hitting wouldn’t have an impact on him.
“I always want to go out and try to shut the other team down and give us as many opportunities to score,” he said. “As cold as we are, we can get just as hot, especially with our lineup and the veterans we have and the great players we have. We always had a faith that if you go out there and do your job, you are going to score runs and we have all year, really.”
Until the playoffs, that is.