PHILADELPHIA — CC Sabathia came so close to another great performance. He just didn’t count on Chase Utley forcing him off the mound in the seventh inning last night, with the white rally towels at Citizens Bank Park alive and well.
All told it was a respectable outing for the Yankees’ ace. Factor into the equation that he was working on short rest, and three earned runs over 6 2/3 innings doesn’t sound so bad.
But there would be no victory for Sabathia. Pedro Feliz took care of that with a game-tying homer off Joba Chamberlain in the eighth, giving Sabathia a no-decision in the Yankees’ 7-4 victory over the Phillies in Game 4 of the World Series.
“I thought he gave us a gutsy performance,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He held them almost in check. For us to get him through seven would have been great, but we weren’t able to do that.”
Utley stroked a 1-2 slider into the right-field seats, bringing Girardi to the mound with the hook. Damaso Marte entered to get the final out in the seventh that had eluded Sabathia.
“I felt strong — sometimes too strong, trying to overthrow and do too much,” Sabathia said.
Sabathia battled all night. He allowed a run in the first inning on consecutive doubles by Shane Victorino and Utley. Sabathia was perfect in the second and third, but surrendered a leadoff single to Ryan Howard in the fourth that ended up costing him.
Howard stole second and scored on Feliz’s RBI single, though replays showed the Phillies first baseman missed the plate after colliding with Jorge Posada, who had received a strong throw from Johnny Damon, but lost the ball during the collision.
Sabathia put Jimmy Rollins and Victorino aboard to start the fifth, but then did some of his best pitching by retiring Utley, Howard and Jayson Werth in succession. Feliz singled with one out in the sixth, but that was no problem for Sabathia, who retired Carlos Ruiz and pinch-hitter Ben Francisco.
“They have an American League lineup and you have to battle,” Sabathia said. “I was just trying to get out there and battle and do everything I could to keep our team in the game and try to get a win.”