CC Brings Out The Beast

It didn't take long to realize that the Seattle Mariners were in for a very long night at Yankee Stadium this evening. CC Sabathia was dominant from the start, perfect for 6.1 innings, and sharp as nails until a second rain delay threw him off his game in the 8th inning. The result was a 4-1 Yankees win that pinned a 17th straight loss on the Mariners, who had just one hit on the night.

In winning his Major League best 15th game, Sabathia outshone his counterpart, Doug Fister, who pitched well enough to win on most nights. But Sabathia was literally unhittable- he struck out seven straight at one point and 14 overall, setting a career high. His seventh straight strikeout was Mike Carp to start the 6th inning, but then the rain came down in sheets and led to a 31 minute rain delay.

When play resumed Sabathia retired the final two batters in the 7th on a pop out and ground out. Sabathia k'ed Ichiro Suzuki to begin the 7th, but Brendan Ryan hit a clean single to left-center to break up the perfect game and no-hitter. After the fans stood on their feet and applauded, Sabathia struck out Dustin Ackley and Miguel Olivo to end the inning.

The Yankees grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 4th when Curtis Granderson hit his 28th home run into the left field seats. It was the first home run that Granderson hit to the opposite field this season. An inning later the Yankees added some breathing room on consecutive singles by Nick Swisher, Jorge Posada, and Eric Chavez, who was activated from the DL prior to the game, and a ribbie ground out by Derek Jeter.

Another 18 minute rain delay impacted the game and Sabathia as he began the 8th by walking three straight hitters. Joe Girardi called on David Robertson, who struck out pinch-hitter Adam Kennedy and got Chone Figgins to hit a potential double play grounder to Chavez. But the third baseman booted the ball and could only get a force as the Mariners got on the board. Robertson then caught Ichiro looking to strand a pair of runners.

Mark Teixeira added an insurance run in the home half of the 8th with his 28th home run of the season before Mariano Rivera struck out two of three in the ninth for his 26th save.

Notes

The combined 18 strikeouts by Sabathia, Robertson, and Rivera tied the single game Yankees record held by Ron Guidry, who did it all by himself in 1978.

Brandon Laird was sent back to Scranton to make room for Chavez on the roster.

HOPE Week continued with the Yankees honoring Tuesday's Child, an organization that was originally started to help out children who lost parents in 9/11 as well as parents who lost older children on that horrible day.