BOSTON — CC Sabathia finally snapped out of his Red Sox funk, and it took an extra effort to do it.
Sabathia struck out 10, throwing a season-high 128 pitches in six innings Tuesday night to beat Boston for the first time in five tries and lead New York to a 5-2 victory.
Additional Photos
The Yankees improved to 3-13 this season against the Red Sox, who lead the AL East by a half-game.
“It’s always a big game when you’re playing the team you’re chasing,” said Sabathia, who added he had grown tired of the reminders of his struggles against Boston. “Of course, when you (reporters) won’t stop talking about it.”
Sabathia (18-7) had been 0-4 with a 7.20 ERA against the Red Sox this year, and 17-3 with a 2.40 ERA against the rest of baseball. He allowed two runs on 10 hits and two walks; only once in his career has he thrown more than 128 pitches.
“He got big outs when he had to and that’s CC,” said Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, who was ejected with one out to go after Mariano Rivera hit a swinging Jarrod Saltalamacchia with a pitch – the fourth hit batter of the game. “It’s not like me to blow my top but it’s an important game. This is a huge game, a huge series.”
Mariano Rivera finished the ninth for his 35th save.
John Lackey (12-10) allowed five runs, four earned, on seven hits and four walks, striking out three. Nick Swisher had three hits, and Francisco Cervelli hit a solo homer in the fifth, clapping as he crossed the plate.
That may have been why, when he came up again in the seventh, Lackey hit him in the back, sparking a bench-clearing staredown.
“I totally understand how it could look that way. Guy hit a home run. Next at-bat, first pitch, you hit him,” Saltalamacchia said. “We had no intent on hitting him. It just happened that way.”
After getting hit, Cervelli moved toward the mound as the dugouts slowly emptied and plate umpire Ed Rapuano tried to maintain order. There was nothing more than jawing back and forth, and in the end Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild was ejected.
In the first inning, Curtis Granderson took one off the end of the bat – or the hand, depending on whom you believe – and then Sabathia plunked Jacoby Ellsbury to lead off the bottom half.
“It’s part of the game,” Cervelli said. “Yankees-Boston, everybody wants to win.”
New York took a 1-0 lead in the second and made it 3-0 in the fourth when Robinson Cano hit an RBI double and scored on Eric Chavez’s single. After Boston cut the lead to 3-2 on Carl Crawford’s homer and an RBI double by Marco Scutaro, New York added Cervelli’s solo homer in the fifth and Derek Jeter’s run-scoring double play in the seventh that made it 5-2.
The Red Sox had 13 hits in all, but Saltalamacchia stranded seven and Adrian Gonzalez stranded five; each struck out three times. It was also a rough day for Jorge Posada, who left five men on and grounded into a pair of double plays. Jeter, who returned after missing two games with a bruised kneecap, grounded out five times.
NOTES: Keegan Bradley, a Vermont native who won the PGA Championship this month, threw out the ceremonial first pitch and gave a big fist pump afterward. Red Sox knuckleballer Tim Wakefield won’t pitch in the upcoming series against Texas. Instead he’ll make his start against Toronto. Andrew Miller, Erik Bedard and Lackey will face the Rangers. Francona said Clay Buchholz, on the 60-day disabled list with a stress fracture on his back, threw 25 times from 60 feet and did well in the limited workout. Francona said Buchholz will continue to rehabilitate slowly. “Whether this turns into him pitching (this season) or not, we don’t know, but it’s still exciting in the fact that he’s done so well to this point.” Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup, one day after receiving a cortisone injection for a sprained left thumb. Rodriguez said he hoped to play at Boston but felt this weekend at home against Toronto was more likely.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.