OAKLAND — Having given the worst hitting team in baseball four innings to hurt him, CC Sabathia listened to advice from pitching coach Larry Rothschild and catcher Chris Stewart.
“It was something Larry said and something Stew said,’’ Sabathia said about hints to locate his fastball better.
After giving up two runs and six hits to the Triple-A’s in the opening four frames, Sabathia tossed three shutout innings and posted the 9-2 victory.
“My fastball command wasn’t there,’’ Sabathia said of the early part of the game in which he gave up a run in the first and a homer to Josh Reddick in the third. “I made sure I stayed back.’’
Alex Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly and Mark Teixeira’s two-run single in the fifth stretched a 3-2 advantage into a 6-2 bulge.
“It seemed like when we got that 6-2 lead he settled in,’’ manager Joe Girardi said of his ace, who halted a two-game losing streak and is 6-2. “He was over 60 pitches after three innings and was able to go seven.’’
Sabathia allowed two hits and two runs in seven innings which required 109 pitches to get through.
Like every pitcher, Sabathia says he doesn’t pitch to the scoreboard. But he understood, against the worst hitting team in the majors, a four-run lead in the middle innings was a big lift.
“When you score runs, it takes the pressure off,’’ said Sabathia, who left the bases loaded in the second when the A’s didn’t score. “We have one of the better offenses in the league. It was time to take off. The runs relax you.’’
Sabathia, a native of nearby Vallejo who bought 200 tickets for family and friends, evened his Coliseum career record to 8-8. He is 6-1 in his past nine starts against the A’s since May 14, 2008.