PANAMA CITY, PANAMA — CC Sabathia beat himself up last Wednesday when he couldn’t locate many of his pitches against the Nationals.
The two words he used were: “I sucked.’’
So, Sunday after the Yankees ace hurled five scoreless, hitless and walk-free innings against the Marlins in a 7-0 victory at Rod Carew Stadium, Sabathia didn’t go overboard the other way.
Sabathia, who fanned five, admitted it felt better to succeed, but downplayed the deal as simply being part of a long spring training.
“It’s good but as critical as I was on myself the last time I don’t want to get too excited about pitching well,’’ Sabathia said. “It is still spring training and I am still working on stuff. I was frustrated last week. This was good to go out and put this behind me. I have two more starts left and be ready for April 1.’’
The only batter to reach against Sabathia was Adeiny Hechavarria, who reached first when third baseman Zelous Wheeler misplayed his two-out grounder in the fifth.
In addition to Sabathia’s sparkling five frames there were other positives. Less than 24 hours after getting no-hit by four Marlin hurlers the Yankees punished Marlins pitching for 15 hits. The only hit the Marlins got was Giancarlo Stanton’s single in the seventh off Preston Claiborne.
Non-roster infielder Yangervis Solarte continued to push for a backup spot by going 3-for-5 and is batting .517 (15-for-29). Gary Sanchez, who has already been sent out of big league camp, homered. Derek Jeter, who went hitless in three a-bats, moved from second to third on a fly to center and slid into the base without incident.
Sabathia introduced eight cutters last week against the Nationals, but only threw two Sunday.
“Fastball and changeup, I was trying to get a feel for that in the first inning,’’ said Sabathia, who admitted being uncomfortable working in the sizzling heat as temperatures hit the mid-90s. “I had some swings and misses so it was good. Coming in I wanted to work on my changeup and make sure I got that down. I threw two cutters in the fifth inning. I wanted to get my pitches that I know I can throw working well and still work on the cutter on the side.’’
After leaving the game Sabathia threw a dozen more pitches — some cutters — in the bullpen.
“I didn’t have a situation in the game where I could throw it,’’ Sabathia said of his new toy. “I had the changeup working right and we went onto the slider.’’
Prior to watching his ace dominate with essentially two pitches, manager Joe Girardi was supportive of Sabathia being critical of himself against the Nationals.
“I like it when guys have high expectations of themselves. I think it’s important that you do. At this level to be successful you better have high expectations,’’ Girardi said before the second of two games honoring Mariano
Rivera in his homeland. “I don’t get too caught up with veterans [in spring training]. Obviously, you would love everyone feeling good about themselves leaving spring training. They have been through it so many times they understand what they need to do to get ready. The big thing is getting him stretched out and his location. They are the two big things.’’
Following the game, Girardi said he was impressed.
“I thought he was effective with his fastball-changeup combination,’’ Girardi said. “He did a good job of keeping them off-balance and getting swings and misses. They didn’t square the ball up very much on him and I thought his command was very good.’’