CC Sabathia was big all game. Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira were huge late.
Teixeira’s one-out single off second baseman Aaron Hill’s glove propelled the Yankees to a 5-4 come from behind win last night against Toronto.
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Leading up to Texieira’s fourth career game-winning hit and first as a Yankee were numerous victories for some of his teammates, which eventually resulted in the Bombers’ sixth win in eight games, 11th comeback from a three-run deficit and second victory in 20 games when trailing through eight innings.
“We had a lot of come-from-behind wins in 2009 and we played extremely well here last year,” manager Joe Girardi said. “We need to get to that and that’s a real good win for us.”
Making it a good win was Sabathia holding Jose Bautista hitless in four at-bats, winning two early battles with the slugger and retiring the last 16 hitters of his third complete game as a Yankee.
The first big battle with the slugger resulted in a strike out swinging on a fastball for the final out of the third with two on. An inning later with the bases loaded, Sabathia needed one sinker to retire Bautista on a ground out with the bases loaded – right after Toronto scored three runs.
“That’s a huge strikeout for CC and this guy does so much damage,” Girardi said. “The fact they couldn’t break the game open – that’s just a huge at-bat.”
“CC was pitching him tough all night,” catcher Russell Martin said. “We never gave him the same pattern.”
The largest at-bats for the Yankees occurred in the ninth, first for Jorge Posada, who delivered a pinch hit double to right field.
“It’s a great feeling,” Posada said. “You want to hit a strike and you want to be aggressive.”
“That was big,” Martin said. “Pinch hitting in general is tough and to square up like that is huge.”
Another victory was Granderson finishing off his first four-hit game in pinstripes winning a battle by lining Francisco’s 2-1 curveball past first baseman Juan Rivera into right field, scoring pinch runner Chris Dickerson.
“The pitch that I put in play, there wasn’t much I could do with,” Granderson said. “But at the same time it was a pitch up in the zone and it was possible to put the barrel on it and I was lucky enough to get it past Rivera at first.”
When Teixeira took enough pitches to let Granderson steal, it seemed like only a matter of time since the Yankees only needed a single.
“Early in the at-bat, I wanted to let Curtis steal because I know the pitcher is a little slow to the plate and Curtis can steal a lot of bases. So I was going to let him steal and he did a great job. After that, I didn’t try to do too much and I hit a line drive and luckily found a hole.”
And when it did, the Yankees found a win.
WORTH NOTING:
Rafael Soriano’s latest stop in his road to recovery from an elbow injury has taken a detour. On Monday, he threw on flat ground but felt some soreness in his elbow and went for a dye-contrast MRI yesterday.
“I’m more concerned now,” Girardi said. “Because I really thought that we would have him getting ready to possibly go out on a rehab assignment shortly. That doesn’t seem to be the case now.”
The Yankees did not announce MRI results but said there was enough in the exam to send him to Dr. James Andrews for a consultation.
Phil Hughes’ latest throwing session occurred before last night’s game with pitching Coach Larry Rothchild and lasted 10 minutes. Hughes threw from 100 to 110 feet, reported no problems and is expected to travel with the team to Seattle.
Nick Swisher returned after getting the last two games off, but his bat remained missing in action as he was 0-for-4, a night that included him popping up with a man on for the final out of the eighth.
Rodriguez is 3-for-12 with five strikeouts lifetime against Janssen and his whiff last night was his second in a big late-game spot off the righty. On April 29, Janssen fanned Rodriguez on a curveball with two on for the final out of the seventh inning of a 5-4 Toronto victory.
Bautista is 0-for-15 lifetime off Sabathia and failed to reach base for just the third time this season. He also failed April 16 in Boston and May 19 in Tampa Bay.
