Kinsler doubled and was stranded in the third, and then Justin Upton reached on the grounder to Walker and eventually scored. His ability to induce weak contact is truly remarkable.Īnd fourth, Sabathia allowed only two runners to make it as far as second base. Third, Sabathia held the Angels to an 84.1 mph average exit velocity, which is absurdly low. Pitching ahead in the count in a wonderful thing. His first pitch strike rate has hovered right around 60% over the years, which is more or less league average. Secondly, Sabathia faced 28 batters and threw 23 first pitch strikes. I thought CC was done after the sixth, but nope, he got the seventh too. Aaron Boone let Sabathia go through the lineup a third time and even let him face Ian Kinsler a fourth time even though he represented the go-ahead run. First, he threw seven innings! First time since August 25th of last season, 14 starts ago if you include the postseason. Sabathia’s final line: 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. Even the run he allowed came on a grounder to second - Neil Walker probably ranged too far to get it and Sabathia didn’t cover first because he never covers first (being 36 with a bum knee has something to do with it) - a broken bat bloop just out of the reach of a leaping Didi Gregorius, and a very wild pitch. Late career CC Sabathia was in peak form Sunday night. Hooray for the winning streak and hooray for getting the hell away from Angel Hernandez and that umpiring crew. It’s their first sweep in Anaheim since 2003 and their first nine-game winning streak since winning ten in a row in June 2012. They completed the three-game sweep of the Angels with a 2-1 win at Yankee Stadium West on Sunday night. Make it nine consecutive wins for the molten hot Yankees.