LEFT OUT TO DRY: Yankees starting pitcher CC Sabathia, reacting during a three-run fifth inning last night, allowed four runs in a 6-4 loss to Tampa Bay. (
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CC Sabathia’s velocity was back last night.
His effectiveness was not.
Despite losing 6-4 to the Rays, the Yankees remained tied for the AL East lead with the Orioles, who stumbled in Oakland last night. Nevertheless the Yankees have lost the last four times their ace has taken the mound.
After another subpar performance, Sabathia again said his left elbow that sidelined him last month isn’t an issue.
“I’m healthy enough to go pitch,” Sabathia said.
When pressed whether that meant there might be lingering issues from the soreness that shelved him for 15 days last month, he responded: “No, I’m good. There’s no excuse for the way I pitched today.”
After giving up just one hit through the first four innings, Sabathia allowed five straight batters to reach and three of them to score in the fifth inning. A two-strike double by Chris Gimenez to lead off the inning was especially damaging.
He gave up another run in the seventh before leaving after 6 2/3 innings, surrendering four runs.
Manager Joe Girardi also said he thinks Sabathia (13-6) is healthy and that he will turn himself around.
“I still believe in CC,” the Yankees manager said. “I know his heart. I’m with him every day in that clubhouse.”
But positive feelings won’t do the Yankees any good right now and general manager Brian Cashman admitted he’s watching Sabathia closer than he normally would because of his injuries this season.
“That’s fair,” Cashman said, later adding: “He recently went through an elbow issue. That makes you curious if that still bothers him, whether he acknowledges it or not.”
Cashman said he is confident Sabathia is OK and added the lefty has not undergone any further tests since returning from the disabled list on Aug. 24.
But after a strong performance in his first game back against the Indians, Sabathia has been mediocre at best.
The Yankees ace also continued another disturbing pattern, as the Bombers have given up a lead in six of their last seven losses.
Steve Pearce’s second-inning single gave them a 1-0 advantage that disappeared with Tampa Bay’s three-run fifth.
Curtis Granderson got a run back with his 38th homer, but the Rays scored off Sabathia again in the seventh and then once more in the eighth when B.J. Upton homered off Cody Eppley.
Alex Rodriguez’s booming two-run shot in the eighth got the Yankees back in the game, but Granderson ended the rally with a groundout off closer Fernando Rodney.
Eduardo Nunez’s costly ninth-inning error made it 6-4. Nunez, starting at shortstop for a banged-up Derek Jeter, allowed Evan Longoria’s ground ball to roll under his glove, bringing Desmond Jennings around to score from second base.
David Price (18-5) kept the Yankees’ bats quiet, giving up just two runs over seven innings in a battle of the southpaw aces — though he did allow a single to Derek Jeter in the fifth. The hit gave Jeter 3,284 in his career, passing Willie Mays for 10th all time.
When Rodriguez scored on his own homer in the eighth, it pushed him by Lou Gehrig for ninth all-time in runs with 1,889.
But this was not a night for milestones. Not with the Yankees trying to fend off a pair of AL East rivals.
“If you want to be successful, you’ve got to win these games,” Girardi said.
They still haven’t won three in a row in a month and last night managed just one hit in six at-bats with runners in scoring position.
“I have confidence,” Cashman said of his team. “I believe in these guys, despite at times how difficult it is to watch the ups and downs.”
If Cashman’s confidence is to be rewarded, the Yankees will need more from Sabathia.
“In the back of your mind, you expect him to be CC,” Girardi said.
Time is running out.