CC3K Not Backed By Enough Hitting

Congratulations to CC Sabathia on joining the 3,000 Strikeout Club. He follows Steve Carlton and Randy Johnson as only the 3rd left-handed pitcher to reach this milestone. Too bad the Yankees didn't hit for him.

It came last night, in the opener of a 2-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field in Phoenix. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, he struck out David Peralta and Christian Walker, to get to 2,999, but then allowed a home run to former Met Wilmer Flores to put the D-backs up 1-0.

He then allowed a single to Nick Ahmed, before facing former Yankee John Ryan Murphy. CC threw him 4 cut fastballs, the 1st missing inside, and the next 3 being fouled off. He then switched to a changeup, which went down and in. Murphy swung and completely missed. That was, as advertised, "CC3K" and "LegaCCy."

The Arizona fans gave CC a nice hand. But, the way things worked out in this Interleague game in a National League park, with no designated hitter, CC was the next Yankee up to bat. And the pitcher he faced, Zack Greinke, might also go to the Hall of Fame one day. (He's now 191-119 with 2,474 strikeouts for his career, and he's 35, so he could build it up more.) CC isn't a bad hitter by pitchers' standards, with a lifetime batting average of .212, but he struck out.

The Yankees tied the game in the top of the 4th, with back-to-back doubles by Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres. But Flores drove in another run in the 5th, and the the D-backs scored another in the 8th, after CC left. Greinke and 2 relievers limited the Yankees to 5 hits and a walk.

Diamondbacks 3, Yankees 1. WP: Greinke (5-1). SV: Greg Holland (6). LP: Sabathia, despite his milestone (1-1).

The brief series concludes this afternoon, at 3:40 PM New York time. Masahiro Tanaka starts against Merrill Kelly. Then, a travel day, and then a home weekend series against the Minnesota Twins.