Yankees Game 95: Sabathia loses in pitcher's duel

CC Sabathia stays in one batter too long as Chris Tillman out duels him in today's Yankees loss.

Baltimore Orioles 4 – New York Yankees 1

After locking up the series win, the Yankees sought the four-game series sweep of the Baltimore Orioles.

In the first inning, CC Sabathia had to deal with some bad luck similar to his previous start. After a one-out single by Jonathan Schoop that Didi Gregorius could not handle, Manny Machado added a soft single just lofted into right field to put runners on the corners. A two-out walk of Chris Davis loaded the bases and a single by J.J. Hardy that Gregorius could not handle brought in two runs to put the Yankees in a two-run deficit.

After a first inning rally against Chris Tillman came up empty, the Yankees managed to get on the board in the second inning. Off the end of the bat, Didi Gregorius went the other way down the left field line for a lead off double. After a fly out to right field let Gregorius advance to third, Starlin Castro laced a single into left field for a run to cut the deficit in half.

After the two-run first inning by Sabathia, the big lefty settled in. Sabathia retired the next eight in a row following the two-run single by Hardy. Overall, CC Sabathia retired 14 of the next 16 since the first inning to get him into the seventh inning. After getting the first out, Caleb Joseph and Julio Borbon got on base with a pair of singles. After a big strikeout of Nolan Reimold, Sabathia remained in the game to face Jonathan Schoop. The Orioles second baseman extended their lead with a two-run double to right, ending Sabathia's day.

In 6 2/3 innings, CC Sabathia allowed four runs in seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts.

While Sabathia held the deficit to one, the Yankees could not generate anything against Tillman. After the run-scoring second inning, Tillman retired 15 of the 16 Yankees to come up in seven innings of one-run baseball.

Chad Green provided 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief but the Yankees offense was not able to make up the three-run deficit against All-Star relievers, Brad Brach and Zach Britton.

Win – Chris Tillman (14-2)

Loss – CC Sabathia (5-8)

Save – Zach Britton (30)

Notables

Orioles

*Jonathan Schoop – 2 for 5, R, 2B, 2 RBI (56)

*J.J. Hardy – 2 for 4, 2 RBI (22)

Yankees

*Starlin Castro – 1 for 3, RBI (37)

*Didi Gregorius – 1 for 3, R, 2B

Current Yankees Record: 48-47