TAMPA — On a day when CC Sabathia was more a victim of bad luck than his own poor pitching, the lefty still lamented that he let a six-run first inning get out of control.

“I need to make pitches and get out of it,” Sabathia said after the Yankees fell to the Braves, 10-2, at George M. Steinbrenner Field.

Asked if it was that big a deal that it happened in a spring training game, Sabathia said: “Of course. Those [innings] make or break games, whether in spring or up north [in The Bronx]. … I need to do a better job of not letting it unravel.”

But unravel it did and Sabathia surrendered six runs — four earned — in just two-thirds of an inning, as the Yankees’ defense fell apart in the first.

Joe Girardi yanked him after 33 pitches and Sabathia tossed about 20 more pitches to get more work in and said he felt fine.

“As good as we’ve been all spring, we weren’t too good today,” Girardi said. “It’s one of those days, it seemed like every ground ball we possibly could have caught, we didn’t make the play. CC kept working and kept working.”

“I went down to the bullpen [afterwards] and felt good,” Sabathia said. “I’ll be ready in time to go again. … Everything feels good. My body feels good and I was letting some [pitches] go. No problems.”

He said his balky knee held up, as well.

“You want to get that out of the way and make sure you push off as hard as you can,” he said.