The big left-hander gave up 10 hits Monday night, matching a season high, and it may have been one of his most impressive performances to date.
Sabathia pitched eight strong innings to earn his major league-best 16th win and the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Monday for their fourth consecutive victory.
“I thought he had to gut it up because his stuff wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen it in the past,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s a true ace.”
Sabathia managed to wiggle out of trouble all night as the White Sox struggled to score without injured slugger Paul Konerko . They put the tying run in scoring position in the fifth, sixth and seventh and came away with nothing each time.
“When a guy gets into scoring position off of CC Sabathia, he pumps it up,” said Gordon Beckham , who finished with two hits for Chicago. “He was hitting 98 in the seventh or eighth inning. It’s frustrating, yeah, but we battled against him and we just came up short.”
Sabathia (16-5) improved to 9-1 with a 1.76 ERA in his last 10 starts, burnishing his credentials for a second AL Cy Young Award. He has pitched at least six innings in each of his last 21 outings.
Mariano Rivera pitched a perfect ninth for his 28th save in 32 chances and second in as many days.
Alexei Ramirez hit a two-run homer for Chicago, which has lost three straight games. Ramirez and A.J. Pierzynski also had two hits apiece.
White Sox right-hander Jake Peavy (4-5) settled down after a rough start and pitched seven effective innings. The 2007 NL Cy Young Award winner gave up three runs and eight hits, but still dropped his fourth consecutive decision.
Both teams were without their captains for the opener of the four-game series. Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter rested with a bruised right middle finger and is expected to return to the lineup Tuesday, but Konerko could miss the next couple of days with a bruised left calf.
Both All-Stars were injured when they were hit by a pitch on Sunday.
The inconsistent White Sox trail AL Central-leading Detroit by 41/2 games, and could lose more ground if they are without their best player for a prolonged stretch. Konerko leads Chicago regulars with a .305 batting average, 25 homers and 76 RBIs.
His absence was felt almost immediately.
Fill-in first baseman Adam Dunn made a nice diving stop on Brett Gardner’s leadoff grounder in the first, but couldn’t get the ball out of his glove in time to retire the speedy outfielder. Curtis Granderson followed with a run-scoring double into the right-field corner and came around to score when Robinson Cano’s hard, one-out grounder skipped past Dunn for an RBI single.
Dunn also struck out in each of his last three at-bats, including with a runner on to end the sixth and the eighth. He went 0 for 4 against Sabathia and is 3 for 77 with 35 strikeouts against lefties this year.
In Boston, Asdrubal Cabrera’s second two-run homer of the game, originally ruled a single off the short wall in right field and overturned by replay review, broke an eighth-inning tie and lifted Cleveland past Boston.
Travis Hafner homered after Cabrera’s first of the game as the Indians won for just the third time in their last 11 games.
Jarrod Saltalamacchia had a broken-bat two-run homer and Carl Crawford had a solo homer, double and scored two runs for Boston, which was coming off a 20-6 record in July — it’s first 20-win month since May 2007.
Cabrera’s homer came off reliever Daniel Bard (1-5) and halted his scoreless innings streak at 26 1-3, longest active in the majors.
Rafael Perez (4-1) pitched one inning of scoreless relief for the win.
In Seattle, Dustin Ackley continued his hitting tear with a pair of extra-base hits, including a bases-loaded triple, rookie righty Blake Beavan escaped early trouble to pitch well into the seventh and Seattle beat Oakland.
Ackley now has 19 extra-base hits in his first 37 games. It’s the second-highest total for any Mariners rookie in their first 50 games. Ackley passed Ken Griffey Jr.’s total of 18 with his triple in the second and a double in the fourth. Alvin Davis had 26 extra-base hits in his first 50 games during the 1984 season when he was the AL rookie of the year.
Ackley led a barrage of 16 hits that knocked Oakland starter Trevor Cahill (9-10) out after just four innings, his second shortest outing of the season.
Beavan (2-2) escaped a bases-loaded, none out jam in the first inning without giving up a run and then held the A’s to just one hit over the next five innings.
