CLEVELAND — Just how large a shopping cart will these Yankees require to achieve their goals?
CC Sabathia’s farewell to his original baseball home fizzled Saturday afternoon to the tune of an 8-4 Yankees loss at Progressive Field, as the Indians saluted the big lefty, whom they drafted in 1998, by roughing him up for four runs in five innings, lifting his ERA to 3.96.
The Yankees officially have entered a lull, having lost five of six games and registering a second straight series loss after nine consecutive such victories. And with the Rays splitting a doubleheader with the Red Sox at Fenway Park, the Yankees no longer stand alone atop the American League East — with Tampa Bay pulling even.