Indians at Yankees
The New York Yankees are savages in the batter's box, according to their manager, but have expanded their attack toward the umpires as they host the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. New York reacted to a pitch that was just off the plate but called a strike by Triple-A umpire Ben May so severely during its 6-5 victory Saturday that Brett Gardner, CC Sabathia and manager Aaron Boone were ejected with Gardner tossed for the second time in a month after a run-in with a rookie umpire.
New York, the runaway leader in the American League East, is 15-3 in August - the best in baseball - and 6-1 as it wraps up its eight-game homestand. The Yankees have hit a major-league most 46 home runs in August after Gleyber Torres belted two and Didi Gregorius and DJ LeMahieu one apiece Saturday, and seem poised to shatter the club record of 54 homers in a month set in July 1940 and matched in August 1998. Cleveland, which leads the wild card race but has lost four of five, is 2 1/2 games behind first-place Minnesota in the AL Central. Sabathia on Sunday comes off the injured list to pitch against his former team while opposing Mike Clevinger, who endured a rare rough start in his last outing.
TV: 1:05 p.m. ET, STO (Cleveland), WPIX (New York)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Indians RH Mike Clevinger (7-2, 3.34 ERA) vs. Yankees LH CC Sabathia (5-6, 4.78)
Clevinger allowed four runs, a season-high 11 hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings in Cleveland's 7-6 loss to Boston in 10 innings Tuesday. The 28-year-old Florida native, who was 6-0 with a 1.83 ERA in his previous seven starts, yielded more than two runs for only the fourth time in 12 starts this season. Gregorius is 3-for-7 with a home run against Clevinger, who is 0-1 with a 5.65 ERA in three games (two starts) versus the Yankees.
Sabathia hasn't pitched since July 27, when he permitted five runs and nine hits (two home runs) in 4 1/3 innings of a 9-5 loss at Boston. The 39-year-old Californian, who has been on the IL three times this season, told reporters that the pain in his surgically repaired right knee has been constant for five years. The Indians' Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez and Carlos Santana are hitting a combined .472 in 53 at-bats versus Sabathia, who is 4-4 with a 3.78 ERA in 14 starts against the Indians after allowing four runs in five innings of an 8-4 loss in Cleveland on June 8.
WALK-OFFS
1. At 22 years, 247 days, 2B Torres (team-high 29 home runs) became the youngest player in history to record seven multi-homer games in a season. Only one middle infielder in the last 100 years has led New York in home runs (Robinson Cano, 2013).
2. Santana went 3-for-4 with three RBIs on Saturday and is batting .386 with six home runs, 18 RBIs, 16 walks and 19 runs in 16 August games.
3. The Yankees on Friday clinched their 27th straight winning season, the second-longest run in major league history behind their 39-year streak from 1926-64.