Yankees Eliminated Despite 5-1 Win Over Red Sox
NEW YORK -- CC Sabathia pitched 7 1/3 effective innings but despite a 5-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox Thursday night, the New York Yankees were eliminated from postseason contention.
Sabathia (9-12) finished his eighth season with the Yankees by allowing one run and four hits. He struck out the first four hitters, eight overall and threw 105 pitches.
Sabathia exited to a standing ovation from portions of the crowd when he was lifted after a groundout by Travis Shaw. He slowly walked to the dugout, pinched the bill of his cap and accepted handshakes from teammates.
The left-hander's final out was recorded shortly after Baltimore completed its 4-0 victory in Toronto to eliminate the Yankees (83-76).
Starlin Castro, Jacoby Ellsbury and Aaron Hicks had RBI doubles for the Yankees. Rookie Tyler Austin had a bases-loaded walk and Chase Headley scored on a wild pitch.
Xander Bogaerts homered for the Red Sox, who dropped their third straight following an 11-game winning streak. Boston (92-67) is two games behind the Texas Rangers for the best record in the American League, but one-half game ahead of Cleveland for the No. 2 seed.
Henry Owens (0-2) started in place of Drew Pomeranz (forearm) and allowed two runs and four hits in 4 2/3 innings.
David Ortiz was 0-for-1 with a walk in his final game against the Yankees. He was lifted for pinch runner Brock Holt after drawing a walk in the fourth and exited to mild applause, mostly from the Red Sox fans in the crowd.
Before taking his final at-bats, he was honored in a brief ceremony where he was accompanied by his wife and two children.
Former Yankees pitcher David Cone and former Red Sox teammate Ellsbury presented him with a leather bound book with greetings from various Yankees. Former New York closer Mariano Rivera presented Ortiz with an oil painting of the slugger tipping his hat to fans at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees took a 1-0 lead on a two-out double by Castro in the first and nearly took a 3-0 lead with two outs in the second when Gary Sanchez reached the second deck in left field on a foul ball for the second straight night.
Boston tied it when Bogaerts lined a 1-1 pitch into the left field seats with one out in the fifth. New York regained a one-run lead in the fifth when Hicks scored from first on Ellsbury's double to the warning track.
