BRADENTON, Fla. — Yankees manager Joe Girardi and his staff have made evaluating a pitcher’s performance on more than just statistics a sort of mantra this spring. He stuck to that Sunday.
Take CC Sabathia’s outing against the Pittsburgh Pirates in New York’s 10-5 loss:
57 pitches, 29 strikes, 28 balls.
But here’s what Girardi had to say about Sabathia’s mechanics: “He was very sound today. He was good. He was really good today.”
Sabathia struggled in his first two starts, giving up seven hits and five runs to the Pirates on Tuesday.
On Sunday, he needed 44 pitches to get through four innings – the one mistake a homer to Aki Iwamura. Sabathia left with an out in the fifth after Andy LaRoche lined a single that glanced off his glove.
He gave up three runs and three hits in
41/3 innings with two walks and two strikeouts.
Jonathan Albaladejo relieved with two runners on in the fifth and allowed both inherited runners to score plus three runs of his own while getting just two outs. Bobby Crosby had an RBI double and Andrew McCutchen added a two-run double in the inning.
Pittsburgh starter Charlie Morton allowed two homers to Nick Johnson on Tuesday, but struck him out in the third Sunday after walking him in the first.
“I did what I was supposed to do: I pitched inside and controlled both sides of the plate,” Morton said.
“I think I went out there and put the emphasis on competing. Not so much getting my pitches in. Not so much working on things. But having a good lineup in the box, you just need to go after them.”
Crosby also hit two home runs after replacing Ronny Cedeno, who cut his hand while stealing second in the third inning.
