New York Post - 19.08.2019

New York Post, Monday, August 19, 2019

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By DAN MARTIN

The Yankees got CC Sabathia

back Sunday, but they still don’t

know which version of the lefty

they’ll have down the stretch.

Although Sabathia showed some

positives in an 8-4 loss to Cleve-

land in The Bronx, there was also a

four-run second inning that helped

cost them the game.

And even though they finished

their homestand with a 9 ½-game

lead over second-place Tampa Bay

in the AL East, there is still home-

field advantage in the postseason

to play for and the Yankees likely

need to find out more before they

know they can rely on Sabathia in

the playoffs.

“I thought [other than the] mid-

dle, where he lost the zone and

was slipping and made some mis-

takes, there was enough good in

the front end and the back end of

it,’’ said Aaron Boone, who seemed

encouraged by the outing. “It was a

step for him along the way that

hopefully gets him back into the

groove.’’

Sabathia, who last pitched July

27 in Boston and was sidelined the

next day with right knee inflam-

mation, said the pain was back to a

manageable amount on Sunday,

despite the shaky results.

“I was just a little rusty,’’ said Sa-

bathia, who gave up four runs in

three innings, done in mostly by a

three-run homer by Mike Free-

man. “I felt really good. It felt like

something I can build off.’’

The Yankees also had problems

again with a home plate umpire —

this time it was Phil Cuzzi — al-

though there were no ejections

and Boone said there was nothing

out of the ordinary.

It ended a 19-game, 17-day stretch

heading into Monday’s off day, fol-

lowed by a nine-game West Coast

trip that begins Tuesday in Oakland.

Sabathia’s trouble started with

singles by Franmil Reyes and Ro-

berto Perez in the second. After a

Jason Kipnis sacrifice bunt, Reyes

scored on Greg Allen’s grounder

to short, beating the throw to the

plate by Didi Gregorius.

Freeman then slammed a hang-

ing slider for a three-run homer to

right-center to make it 4-0.

“It was just a bad pitch,’’ Sabathia

said. “It hung up there. I’ve been

doing that a lot this year to lefties.

Way too much. I’m gonna need to

tighten that up and get those guys

out at a clip I normally do.’’

Entering Sunday, left-handed hit-

ters had an OPS of .716 against Sa-

bathia, compared to .641 over his

career.

Sabathia followed the homer by

walking the bases loaded with two

out before finally fanning Reyes to

end the 35-pitch inning.

He rebounded to strike out the

side in order in the third — thanks

in part to a generous strike zone by

Cuzzi — and was done after 67

pitches, limited by a pitch count.

“If this is what it’s gonna be the

rest of the year, I can definitely

deal with it,’’ Sabathia said.

Nestor Cortes, Jr. came in and

gave up two runs in 2 ¹/₃ innings

and the Yankees offense never got

going against right-hander Mike

Clevinger and they were irritated

with Cuzzi throughout the early

going.

The Yankees also squandered

several chances to score, with

Mike Tauchman, Gary Sanchez

and Gleyber Torres all unable to

come through with two runners on

and two outs.

DJ LeMahieu’s two-run, oppo-

site-field shot in the seventh made

it 6-2 and after Cleveland scored

twice more in the eighth, the Yan-

kees got a pair of runs in the bot-

tom of the ninth against Brad Hand.

But after Judge’s two-run double,

Gio Urshela sent the next pitch to

the track in left, where Oscar Mer-

cado hauled it in to end the game.

And while Sabathia remains im-

pressed by what he’s seen from his

teammates, he believes there is

more.

“I still want to see us healthy,

though,’’ he said.

That includes him.

“We’ll see,’’ Boone said when

asked what he can expect from Sa-

bathia. “I hope the next time out he

builds up from there and gets into

a good routine, where his body is

responding and bouncing back and

he can go on a good run with us.”

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By DAN MARTIN

A day after the Yankees

had three ejections — in-

cluding Aaron Boone — the

manager said he hoped his

team and the umpires do a

better job of staying calm in

the future.

Still, there was consider-

able chirping from the dug-

out in the Yankees’ 8-4 loss to

Cleveland on Sunday in The

Bronx, as both teams took is-

sue with home plate umpire

Phil Cuzzi’s strike zone.

And both Boone and Brett

Gardner said they have yet

to hear from MLB about

whether banging a bat on

the roof of the dugout is

cause for being tossed, but

Boone said he would talk to

the veteran outfielder about

not doing it during tense

moments — as he did on

Saturday.

“I’ve talked to [Gardner]

and continue to talk to him

about trying not to escalate

situations — especially

when there is some conten-

tion,’’ Boone said. “Clearly,

there seemed to be some

sense of [the umpires] look-

ing for that.”

According to the Umpire

Manual, umpires have the

“authority to disqualify any

player, coach, manager or

substitute for objecting to de-

cisions or for unsportsman-

like conduct or language.”

Gardner added he in-

tended to stop.

“I can’t get thrown out like

that,’’ he said.

Boone has been tossed

four times this season —

and Gardner twice.

“I don’t want issues with

umpires,’’ Boone said.

“Sometimes there’s gonna be

the inevitable disagreements

and be some angst here and

there. Hopefully everyone

can do a better job — us in-

cluded — of doing our best

to defuse certain situations

to keep things from getting

escalated, certainly, like they

did [Saturday].”

And three of the Yankees’

major incidents have all

come with minor league

umpires who had been

called up for the game be-

hind the plate, but Boone

didn’t blame their inexperi-

ence for the blowups.

On Saturday, it was Ben

May at home plate and

Boone praised him — a bit

— on Sunday.

“I don’t think Ben handled,

necessarily, anything wrong,’’

Boone said. “And I was never

that irate. I was more trying

to take the attention off some

of our players.’’

Cameron Maybin, who

took issue with a called third

strike by May that sparked

Saturday’s histrionics, criti-

cized May after Saturday’s

game for staring into the

dugout.

“I don’t think he had a

short fuse or anything like

that,’’ Boone said. “I thought

he tried to defuse the situa-

tion as best he could and un-

fortunately, it got a little

away.’’

Cuzzi was the first base

umpire Saturday and

sprinted over to the Yan-

kees’ dugout to eject Gard-

ner and subsequently CC

Sabathia.

In the bottom of the first

on Sunday, Cuzzi called a

low strike on Aaron Judge to

make it an 0-2 and with

Mike Ford at the plate in the

fourth, Cuzzi yelled at the

Yankees’ dugout and

warned bench coach Josh

Bard after a strike call.

“We’ve got a job to do, just

like them,’’ Judge said.

“We’re gonna go out there

and keep playing. It doesn’t

matter who’s umpiring. I

don’t think anything carries

over.’’

Boone called Sunday “just

stuff within the game. You

get some, you don’t. You

move on.’’

Boone says he doesn’t ‘want issues with umpires’

NOT GETTING INTO IT: Aaron Boone, who was ejected from Saturday’s game, reacts in the dugout

after a call during the fourth inning of the Yankees’ 8-4 loss to the Indians on Sunday. Paul J. Bereswill

INDIANS 8

YANKEES 4

Boxscore

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