Sabathia’s Early Struggles Cause New York Yankees To Fall On Opening Night

Apr 1, 2014; Houston, TX, USA; General view of Minute Maid Park before a game between the Houston Astros and the New York Yankees. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

CC Sabathia is many things. One thing he’s not is good on opening day. CC now has one win in his career with an ERA of 6.10 as the New York Yankees lost their season opener to the Houston Astros by a score of 6-2.

Sabathia’s location was way off and with he reduced velocity, he has to locate better. Dexter Fowler led off with a double over Jacoby Ellsbury‘s head in center. After a flyout, Jose Altuve‘s single made it 1-0. Altuve stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Jason Castro reached on a fielder’s choice and Altuve scored. Jesus Guzman followed with home run to left.

It didn’t get much better in the second. L.J. Hoes led off with his first homer of the year to left. After an out, Fowler doubled again. Two batters later Altuve got his second RBI of the game with a single.

The Yankees didn’t get a hit until Carlos Beltran‘s single in the fourth. The Yankees finally got a rally going in the seventh. They loaded the bases off Scott Feldman with a single, a hit by pitch and a walk. Kevin Chapman would come in though and get Kelly Johnson to groundout to end the inning.

The Yanks got their lone runs in the eighth. Ellsbury walked and Chad Qualls came in. Derek Jeter singled. After a groundout moved the runners along, singles by Brian McCann and Mark Teixeira would make it 6-2.

Hiroki Kuroda will face Jarred Cosart at 8:10 ET tomorrow night.