Sabathia Wins 5th Straight, Leads Yankees Over Red Sox 8-0
NEW YORK (AP) — CC Sabathia won his fifth straight start to beat Rick Porcello in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners, and Chris Carter drove in four runs with a three-run homer and an RBI single that led the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox 8-0 Wednesday night.
Sabathia (7-2), who had last won five in a row in April 2012, allowed five hits in eight innings, his longest outing since April 2015. He walked none and struck out five — four of them looking.
The left-hander has a 1.11 ERA during his streak, and all five wins followed losses by Masahiro Tanaka, who had supplanted Sabathia as New York's ace. Sabathia was removed after 95 pitches, denying him a chance for his first shutout since 2011.
Jonathan Holder finished with a perfect ninth. Boston's final 15 hitters went down in order.
Didi Gregorius hit a go-ahead home run starting the third and Carter homered for the second straight day, his sixth this season. Carter's fourth-inning drive followed Starlin Castro's leadoff triple and an RBI single by Gary Sanchez, dropped from second to sixth in the batting order.
Boston right fielder Mookie Betts robbed Carter of another homer in the sixth, leaping and getting his glove above the 8-foot wall for a sparkling catch. A fan touched the ball before it landed in Betts' glove, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi discussed the play with umpires, although there was not a video review.
Carter, New York's No. 9 batter, had three hits, including a run-scoring single off the left-field wall in a two-run eighth.
New York stopped Boston's three-game winning streak and reopened a two-game lead over the second-place Red Sox in the AL East.
Sabathia had trouble with his knee brace in the fourth inning, and it came off after Hanley Ramirez's leadoff groundout. The burly 6-foot-6 lefty, not known for his fielding prowess, made a bare-hand grab of Jackie Bradley Jr.'s fifth-inning comebacker with Josh Rutledge on third, a ball that came off the bat at 98 mph, according to MLB's Statcast.
Sabathia, the 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland, squared off against the reigning winner. Porcello (3-8) lost his third straight start, giving up six runs — five earned — and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.
On Monday, Porcello attended the dedication of Porcello Field at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, New Jersey, where he was 10-0 as a senior in 2007.
STREAK STOPPER
New York was hitless in 15 at-bats with runners in scoring position dating to Sunday before Sanchez's hit. Sanchez flipped slots in the batting order with Aaron Hicks, who entered with a nine-game hitting streak. Hicks went 0 for 4, dropping his batting average to .319. "It's really hard to ignore what Aaron Hicks has done," Girardi said.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Red Sox: LHP Brian Johnson is to be recalled from Triple-A Pawtucket and start Friday against Detroit, his first big league appearance since a five-hit shutout against Seattle on May 27. Johnson slipped and injured his left hamstring while pitching for the PawSox on Saturday but threw a successful bullpen Tuesday and passed agility tests Wednesday. He takes the place of LHP Eduardo Rodriguez, who injured his right knee slipping on a bullpen mound before a 7-5 loss at Baltimore on June 1. Boston manager John Farrell said Rodriguez threw from 120 feet on flat ground Wednesday. ... RHP Carson Smith threw about 20 pitches to batters who didn't swing, his first time facing batters since Tommy John surgery on May 24 last year. He is to throw batting practice again Saturday, and the Red Sox will decide after that whether he is ready for a minor league rehabilitation assignment.
Yankees: All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman, out since May 12 with rotator cuff inflammation, is to throw a simulated game on Friday or Saturday and then could start a minor league rehab assignment. ... 1B Greg Bird, who hasn't appeared for the Yankees since May 1 because of a bruised right ankle, is to play for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre at Lehigh Valley on Friday night after going 6 for 20 with three doubles and a home run in six games at Class A Tampa. ... CF Jacoby Ellsbury is still experiencing headaches from a concussion sustained May 24 when he crashed into the wall catching a drive by Kansas City's Alcides Escobar.
UP NEXT
LHP David Price (1-0) starts for Boston in Thursday night's series finale, his third outing since returning from a sore pitching elbow that had sidelined the 2012 AL Cy Young Award winner since spring training. He allowed one run and three hits over seven innings in a 5-2 win against Baltimore on Saturday. RHP Michael Pineda (6-3) pitches for the Yankees.
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