After missing out on a chance to pad their American League East division lead the night before by losing a close game, the New York Yankees had a remedy to get back to their winning ways: a blowout.
The Yankees had their ace C.C. Sabathia on the mound and wouldn't know the result of the Baltimore Orioles game until later that night, so they took matters into their own hands.
Sabathia was stellar, striking out 10 as the Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 8-2 on Wednesday afternoon. He pitched eight innings and only gave up six hits and two runs.
"This is what he can do. He can string a bunch of good ones together. And if there's a time, now's the time," manager Joe Girardi said to the Associated Press.
The win kept the Yankees 1 ½ games over the Orioles in the division. Baltimore beat the Toronto Blue Jays 12-2 on Wednesday night and will play three games against the Boston Red Sox starting Friday.
The Twins took an early 1-0 lead off a Matt Carson single in the, but the Yankees quickly responded.
In the third inning New York blew the game wide open, scoring six runs to take a 6-1 lead. The Yankees blasted Twins pitcher Brian Duensing, with a two-run double from Robinson Cano and a two-run triple from Curtis Granderson. The Yankees also added a run on a wild pitch.
Sabathia did the rest. The win improved the Yankee ace to 10-0 with a sub-2.00 ERA in his last 11 starts against the Twins and earned Sabathia his 14th win on the season.
"That's the best I've seen him, and I've been watching him for a long time," Mauer said. "When I was up there he was both sides of the plate: fastball, slider, sinker. He threw me everything, and everything was working."
Sabathia was masterful against Minnesota's Joe Mauer, who is one of baseball's best hitters and is second in the league in batting average with a .326 average. Sabathia struck out Mauer three times in a row, amazingly on only nine pitches.
According to ESPN.com, it's only the fifth time in Mauer's career that he has gone hitless and struck out three times while getting at least four at-bats.
The dominance Sabathia showed will be essential for the Yankees as they move forward to the postseason.
"We're in a race. We know it's going to be tough. So you want to go out and do well every time out," Sabathia said, adding: "Hopefully, I can go out and pitch well again the next time. I'll take what I can out of this one and be ready to go five days from now."
The win gave the Yankees 12 wins in their last 16 games and stopped the Orioles from gaining any ground in the division race.
The Twins threatened in the fifth after third baseman Eric Chavez forgot how many out there were in the inning, stepping on third for a force out rather than turning a double play. Following a passed ball by Chris Stewart, the Twins had runners on second and third, but Sabathia was able to get Denard Span to ground out and held the lead at 6-1.
"Sometimes things work out right," Girardi said.
The Yankees added two more runs in the sixth when Chris Dickerson hit a home run following a double from Raul Ibanez.
"I feel like we're playing our best ball now, and this is the perfect time to be doing that," said Nick Swisher, who had an RBI single.
New York played without slugger Alex Rodriguez, who was nursing a bruised left foot. Shortstop Derek Jeter ended his 19-game hit streak after going 0-for-4.
The Yankees will open a four game series against the Blue Jays on Thursday before finishing the season at home against the Boston Red Sox. New York will pitch Ivan Nova against Toronto's Brandon Morrow in the first game.
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