KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Pitching against the worst hitting team in the American League certainly helped. So did a five-run cushion after four innings. Four line drives finding Yankees leather was also a plus.
Yet the way CC Sabathia, who struggled in his previous four starts, handled the Royals on the way to a 7-1 victory Tuesday night in front of 30,878 at Kauffman Stadium had to serve as a confidence booster for the Yankees.
Facing a Royals team that was hitting .226 (20 points below the league average), Sabathia didn’t give up a run in 6 ²/u2083 innings as he improved his record 3-2.