C.C. Sabathia shines as New York Yankees edge Cleveland Indians 3-1 – MLB Update
New York Yankees showed great composure as they crushed the Cleveland Indians 3-1 at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio on Friday, August 24 in the opening game of their three match series of the 2012 Major League Baseball regular season.
Throughout the season, Nick Swisher has shown how valuable an asset he is for the Yankees. Making the most of available opportunities, the hitter put up another masterful performance on Friday evening to lead the Yankees to a much needed victory.
Swisher doubled to deep right in the first inning to put his side on the board and later homered to right centre to break the tie.
Ace C.C. Sabathia also looked in top form as he made quick work of Indians’ batting line-up. Allowing just four hits and a run in seven plus effective innings, Sabathia improved his win-loss record to 13-3. Relief pitcher Rafael Soriano pitched the scoreless
ninth to hold off the Indians, grabbing his 32nd save of the season.
"I heard it and closed my eyes," Swisher said of Derek Jeter. "Then I looked and he was walking around. What a champ. It didn't faze him at all. That could have been serious."
"He really knows how to pitch," manager Joe Girardi said of Sabathia. "I was pleasantly surprised how solid his command was. You don't throw for 15 days, you don't always get that."
"We played pretty decent tonight and had our chances offensively," Indians’ manager Manny Acta said in a post game interview. "Still, you need to execute better than we did."
It was an extremely important win for the Yankees who are now just three games ahead of the second placed Tampa Bay Rays. Yankees dominated the American League East Division in first half of the season but they have not been able to give similar results
in the second half.
Nonetheless, Joe Girardi and his men are still the favourites to win the AL East title and it will be interesting to see if they can raise their game play a bit to have a better chance of making it to the playoffs.
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