The Big Man Gets His Groove On

The Yankees increased their AL East lead while CC Sabathia was on the disabled list, but you can bet they were ecstatic to get him back tonight. A modest Tuesday night crowd was too as Sabathia cruised through six scoreless innings en route to a 6-1 Yankees win over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Sabathia was DL'ed  for the first time in his career after straining his groin at the end of June. But he showed no rust in his return as the Yankees improved to 4-1 after the All-Star break. Sabathia threw 87 pitches, 66 for strikes (75.8%) and limited the Blue Jays to four hits and a walk, while he finished with six strikeouts.

The win was Sabathia's 10th of the season; in doing so, per YES research manager Jeff Quagliata (@yestoresearch), Sabathia became the first Major League pitcher since Tom Seaver to reach double figures in wins his first 12 seasons.

As is the case in most of the Yankees win this season, the home run played a big part in this one. Andruw Jones smacked one out in the 2nd inning off Brett Cecil with two aboard to give the Yankees a quick 3-0 lead.

The Blue Jays defense and some non-home runs gave the Yankees some necessary insurance in the 7th inning. Third baseman Brett Lawrie played a chopper into an RBI double for Chris Stewart for a 4-1 lead. Derek Jeter followed with an RBI double to right that was misplayed by Anthony Gose, who was making his Major League debut. The final run of the inning came across on a sharp Alex Rodriguez ground out.

The run were needed when the Blue Jays loaded the bases with one out off of Chad Qualls and Clay Rapada. Joe Girardi was forced go to his closer, but Rafael Soriano only needed five pitches to end the game. J.P. Arencibia hit a bullet right to Mark Teixeira, who tagged out Gose before he could get back to 1st base.

Notes

Qualls continues to struggle and may be looking for a job soon. Since he was acquired off waivers from the Philadelphia Phillies, the 33-year old right-hander has allowed five runs and nine hits in 6.1 innings pitched.

Clay Rapada showed that he is not someone likely to win a Gold Glove Award any time soon. Back on June 28, Rapada's throwing error on a potential double play ball helped cost the Yankees a game against the White Sox. Tuesday night Rapada had another miscue on a come backer with runners on the corners and one out in the 9th. Rapada cleanly fielded Gose's hack-swing/bunt, but when he looked toward 2nd base it gave Gose time to reach first safely with his first Major League hit. (Personally, I think it should be an error on Rapada). Rapada can thank Soriano and Teixeria for getting him off the hook this time around.

Robinson Cano extended his career high hitting streak to 20 games. He's hit .405 during the streak with six home runs and 20 RBI. According to the YES Network, it's the longest streak by Yankees second baseman since Joe Gordon in 1942. Ironically, Tuesday marked the 71st anniversary of the end of Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak

Jones has six home runs and 12 RBI in his last 12 games. The home run was the 432nd of his career.

Joba Chamberlain pitched an inning for the GCL Yankees and was reportedly clocked at 98 mph.

The Yankees have now scored three or more runs in 40 straight games.