C.C. Sabathia Loses No Hit Bid in 6th Inning


Joy R. Absalon – USA TODAY Sports

The New York Yankees had one of the most devastating losses of the season last night to a division rival that they were a game behind with in the standings before last night. Staff ace C.C. Sabathia was on the mound against the Baltimore Orioles, a team he has great numbers against. He’s 17-5 with a 3.19 ERA in 28 games started against them In his career.

Yesterday looked like it was going to be another dominating performance by Sabathia, who had good fastball command that stood around 91-92 MPH, even getting up to 94, and his slider and change-up were working with good action as well. Sabathia had four strikeouts through five hitless innings to begin the game; the only base runner came in the bottom of the third, when Alexi Casilla hit a hard ground ball to third that Alberto Gonzalez booted.

The Yankees looked like they were cruising until the sixth inning rolled around and Sabathia imploded. A couple of soft singles and a big two-run double by a 20-year-old kid, Manny Machado, who is vying to break the single season doubles record. The lead was gone and Sabathia was obviously upset.

In the bottom of the seventh, Sabathia gave up the game-winning home run to the little-lefty Nate McLouth, who actually broke up the no-hitter the inning before. Sabathia let out a scream in anger and then really showed his emotions when he made it to the dugout after the inning. He threw his hat and glove in disgust as he knew his night was over, as he was at 106 pitches, and the bullpen would finish out the game.

Everyone on the Yankees bench knew the game was over after that tater by McLouth, especially Sabathia who rarely shows any emotion the way he did following those two disastrous innings. These are the kind of games that can cripple teams, especially a Yankees team that seems to be losing confidence every at bat that they come up short. The All Star break can’t come soon enough for rest of body, rest of mind, and hopefully, some reinforcements from the disabled list that could turn a season back around.


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