1. Pettitte looks fully recovered
Andy Pettitte returned yesterday from a groin injury and gave up one earned run on three hits in six innings. The lefty was in line for the win before Mariano?Rivera blew it in the ninth and the Orioles eventually won 4-3 in the 11th inning.
Pettitte looked rusty when he allowed two hits in the first but retired the final 11 hitters. He will have two more starts to prepare for the postseason.
“As the game went on, I felt comfortable with my mechanics,” Pettitte said.
2. They finally got a big hit in the clutch
The Yankees won the first two games of this series after losing five of the previous six on the road trip and eight of 10 overall. Five of those losses had been of the one-run variety and another close defeat seemed imminent in the ninth inning Friday.
The Yankees trailed by two and were down to their last strike, but Alex Rodriguez crushed a three-run bomb to give Yankees a 4-3 victory.
3. Sabathia joins an exclusive club
After two attempts, CC Sabathia became a first-time member of the 20-win club.
Sabathia improved to 20-6 by allowing three runs and seven hits in seven innings on Saturday. Robinson Cano also became a first-time member of the 100-RBI club when he hit a two-run home run off Jeremy Guthrie. He joined Mark Teixeira and Rodriguez as the third Yankee to reach the milestone. It’s the first time three Yankees infielders reached the century mark.
