CLEVELAND — His second attempt at a milestone victory that would have gotten the Yankees out of a recent funk didn’t materialize. So instead of talking about that subject, CC Sabathia addressed the Yankees dropping five of six games.
“It’s a long season. We have played well up to this point,’’ the veteran lefty said following the Indians’ 8-4 victory Saturday in front of 32,239 at Progressive Field. “It’s a tough stretch for us, but we will be fine.’’
When they attempt to avoid being swept by the Indians on Sunday, the Yankees won’t be fine going in. They lost two of three to the lowly Blue Jays this week in Toronto. The Indians are better and playing well, but for the second straight game the Yankees didn’t pitch or hit good enough to win. Saturday’s loss dropped them out of sole possession of first place in the AL East. The Rays split a doubleheader in Boston to create a tie atop the division.
“We were able to grab a lead in the first two games and haven’t been able to tack on,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of his club, which let a two-run lead vanish in the fifth Friday night and the same margin slip away in the fourth Saturday. “The bottom line is we had four runs today. It’s not like we have gone silent.’’
But they aren’t violating noise ordinances with the bats. Friday, Zach Plesac, in his third big league start, limited the Yankees to two runs and six hits in seven innings. Saturday it was Adam Plutko, recently called up from Triple-A, who held the Yankees to two runs and three hits in six frames. The Yankees added two more against veteran reliever Oliver Perez.
Staked to a two-run lead before he took the mound by Didi Gregorius’ two-run homer in the first, Sabathia didn’t allow a run in the opening three innings but gave up a pair in the fourth that tied the score. Two more scored in the fifth when Oscar Mercado’s took advantage of a hanging slider and hit a two-run homer put the Tribe in the lead for good.
Boone and Sabathia didn’t blame the Sabathia tweaking his right knee, while fielding Plawecki’s chopper to the left side in the fifth, as the reason for Mercado’s homer, which followed Francisco Lindor’s two-out ground ball double inside the third base bag.
“I felt fine, it is something I have to deal with,’’ Sabathia said of the hinge, which has pushed him to the injured list twice this year.
Trainer Steve Donohue and Boone visited Sabathia on the mound, and he remained in the game.
In his second attempt at getting career win 250, Sabathia will require at least another one. In six innings he allowed four runs and seven hits and is 3-3. Though he doesn’t need 250 wins to pair with 3,000 strikeouts to be elected to the Hall of Fame, no pitcher besides Roger Clemens, who is still on the ballot, who has that daily double isn’t in the Cooperstown fraternity.
Sabathia left trailing, 4-2, which wasn’t an impossible hurdle to climb, but Jonathan Holder gave up three runs and two homers in the sixth, and after the Yankees rallied for two runs in the seventh, Luis Cessa gave up a run in the eighth, and the Yankees went quietly in the ninth.
“Concerned, no. I am disappointed with the way we have played the last few days,’’ Brett Gardner said. “It’s a long season and over the course of a long season you are going to have your ups and downs. You have to keep trying and avoid getting swept [Sunday].’’
That might be tough to do since Masahiro Tanaka, on the paternity list, won’t start. Instead, reliever Chad Green likely will pitch the first inning and the Yankees will fill it in behind him. Green has made three starts and the Yankees have won all three, but they scored 24 runs in those games — twice as many as the Yankees have plated in the previous three tilts.
