Sabathia continues dominant streak with 5th straight win
NEW YORK - CC Sabathia won his fifth straight start to beat Rick Porcello in a matchup of Cy Young Award winners, and Chris Carter drove in four runs with a three-run homer and an RBI single that led the New York Yankees over the Boston Red Sox 8-0 Wednesday night.
Sabathia (7-2), who had last won five in a row in April 2012, allowed five hits in eight innings, his longest outing since April 2015. He walked none and struck out five - four of them looking.
The left-hander has a 1.11 ERA during his streak, and all five wins followed losses by Masahiro Tanaka, who had supplanted Sabathia as New York's ace. Sabathia was removed after 95 pitches, denying him a chance for his first shutout since 2011.
Jonathan Holder finished with a perfect ninth. Boston's final 15 hitters went down in order.
Didi Gregorius hit a go-ahead home run starting the third and Carter homered for the second straight day, his sixth this season. Carter's fourth-inning drive followed Starlin Castro's leadoff triple and an RBI single by Gary Sanchez, dropped from second to sixth in the batting order.
Boston right fielder Mookie Betts robbed Carter of another homer in the sixth, leaping and getting his glove above the 8-foot wall for a sparkling catch. A fan touched the ball before it landed in Betts' glove, and Yankees manager Joe Girardi discussed the play with umpires, although there was not a video review.
Carter, New York's No. 9 batter, had three hits, including a run-scoring single off the left-field wall in a two-run eighth.
New York stopped Boston's three-game winning streak and reopened a two-game lead over the second-place Red Sox in the AL East.
Sabathia had trouble with his knee brace in the fourth inning, and it came off after Hanley Ramirez's leadoff groundout. The burly 6-foot-6 lefty, not known for his fielding prowess, made a bare-hand grab of Jackie Bradley Jr.'s fifth-inning comebacker with Josh Rutledge on third, a ball that came off the bat at 98 mph, according to MLB's Statcast.
Sabathia, the 2007 AL Cy Young Award winner with Cleveland, squared off against the reigning winner. Porcello (3-8) lost his third straight start, giving up six runs - five earned - and eight hits in 6 1/3 innings.