Martin's Big Bang Theory Gets Soriano Off The Hook

Russell Martin game winner (courtesy of Yahoo Sports)

CC Sathabia was doing what everyone is accustomed to CC Sabathia doing, mowing down hitters. It had been a while since anyone had seen the big man pitch like he always did prior to this season. One Oakland Athletic went down on strikes after another, 11 in all. Unfortunately, the Yankees couldn't do much against Oakland starter Jarrod Parker, and had just a 1-0 lead when Sabathia exited after 113 pitches and eight innings.

Good news, bad news...Rafael Soriano came on in the 9th inning for the save, but surrendered a mile high home run to Brandon Moss to tie the game at one apiece. Wait, that's actually bad news, good news. Though Sabathia didn't get to enjoy the fruits of his labor, the Yankees won the game in 10 innings when Russell Martin turned on a Sean Dolittle fastball and hit it into the left field seats for a 2-1 game winning, walk off home run. Sean do little, but Russell did lots.

Martin's best month has been September; he's matched his season high for home runs in a month (4), has produced his top RBI total (12), best batting average (.255, still not so hot) and OPS (.896, nice). David Robertson was the recipient of Martin's big hit after he pitched a scoreless 10th inning to improve to 2-7.

Though he didn't figure in the decision, it was encouraging to see Sabathia complete eight full innings for the first time since August 3. I was upset that Joe Girardi didn't let him start the 9th, especially after Soriano served up his gopher ball, but reconsidered after I learned  Sabathia had thrown 113 pitches to that point. In the past I would have thought, 'no big deal', but there was no reason to tax Sabathia's questionable elbow.

The victory kept the Yankees a game ahead of Baltimore, which defeated Boston 4-2.

Notes

Ichiro Suzuki had hits his first two times up (he finished 2-3) to give him 11 hits in his last 15 at-bats.

Derek Jeter was 1-4 to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.