What Sabathia said in the middle of the Yankees’ 8-1 win Friday night over the rival Boston Red Sox wasn’t really important. But what was important was the way his teammates were energized by his overly enthusiastic body language, and the manner in which he practically shut down one of the best offenses in baseball.
“We feed off that, just the energy that he provides,” Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge said. “He pounds the strike zone and he just dominates. He doesn’t miss a spot.“cheap nfl jerseys china nike
Across seven innings in a high-stakes game in one of the biggest series to this point of the season, Sabathia held the Red Sox in check. He gave up six hits and only one run in a five-strikeout outing.
Matched against a team that entered with the best record in the majors and one of the top two run-producing offenses in the league, this ended up being the latest in a sequence of strong Sabathia starts on the brightest of stages.
“That is a really good offense that he was just in complete command against,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “On a buzzy night, on a hot night, for him to be in command like he was, and for us to break through and get some runs there in the middle innings [was big].
“Really, CC set the tone by just controlling their offense for the most part.”
Tone-setter, that’s one way to describe Sabathia.
Another? Re-setter. Since the start of last season, Sabathia has been the antidote to counteract Yankees losses. In 18 regular-season starts covering that span, including Friday’s, he is 12-0 in outings he has made immediately following a Yankees loss.
“He’s been great all year,” Boone said. “That might’ve been his best outing.”nike nfl jerseys cheap china
It’s certainly up there. It’s also up there as far as other recent starts against the Red Sox are concerned.
Since 2001, Sabathia’s rookie year, he paces all pitchers in outings against Boston that are seven innings in length, with only one run or fewer allowed. Sabathia has 10 such starts. Next on the list is the late Roy Halladay with eight, and then former Yankee Andy Pettitte with seven.
