CC Sabathia has proven that he’s not afraid of high pitch counts, and yesterday he tossed 122. Unfortunately for the Yankees, he did it in just 5 2/3 innings.
“It was frustrating to throw that many pitches,” the big left-hander said. “I need to make better pitches with two strikes.”
PHOTOS: OPENING DAY AT NEW STADIUM
That caught up with the Yankees in their home opener at the new Yankee Stadium, as their bullpen collapsed after Sabathia’s somewhat early departure in a 10-2 loss to the Indians, his former team.
“CC is tough,” Cleveland center fielder Grady Sizemore said. “None of us had really seen him, so we didn’t have a game plan.”
And although Sabathia gave up just one run, he also surrendered five hits and five walks, while striking out four.
“CC pitched well for them,” Indians manager Eric Wedge said. “We let him off the hook a couple of times, but that’s what he does.”
The Indians had at least two runners on base in each inning after the first against Sabathia before he was pulled for Edwar Ramirez.
“Once you get to the bullpen, it’s a different ballgame,” Wedge said.
The Yankees survived the rest of the sixth inning, but soon imploded, as the Indians broke open the game with a nine-run seventh, something Sabathia didn’t enjoy watching.
“I was thinking a lot about what I could have done to keep us in the game,” said Sabathia, who wasn’t as effective as he was his last time out, when he tossed 7 2/3 innings of shutout ball against the Royals. “My last outing, my command was there. It wasn’t as good today.”
But he didn’t mind manager Joe Girardi letting him stay on the mound as long as he did.
“It was disappointing getting to that pitch count so soon,” said Sabathia, after giving up a run in the fourth on a Kelly Shoppach RBI double, as he battled Cleveland starter Cliff Lee, who was more effective yesterday than in his previous two appearances. “I’ll throw until they come get me.”
And when Girardi did, the Indians made the Yanks pay.
“We know CC is an emotional pitcher and we wanted to see if he got excited, but he came out well,” Sizemore said. “We did a good job against him, but he pitched well. We worked him enough that he wasn’t able to stay in the game, which was good.”
But not good for the Yanks.