Yankees C.C. Sabathia pitching hurt to hold down the fort?

C.C. Sabathia’s recent performances have not looked good. Is the veteran southpaw pitching hurt to carry the Yankees until the cavalry arrives?

It’s plain to see that C.C. Sabathia has been awful in his last four starts for the Yankees. He’s simply not the same Yankee stopper from 2017 when he went 14-5 with a 3.69 ERA and was 11-1 on the mound following a team loss.

Here are the results of Sabathia’s last four starts, and they are not pretty:

• May 29 vs. Astros — 5 IP, five runs (three earned) on eight hits and one HR
• May 23 vs. Rangers — 4.1 IP, six runs on seven hits and two HR
• May 18 vs.  Royals — 5 IP, four runs (two earned) on four hits and one HR
• May 10 vs. Red Sox — 4 IP, four runs on nine hits and one HR

Sabathia’s earned run average has climbed from 1.71 on April 29 to 3.73 as of today. Another important statistic is that the home run bug seems to be haunting him once again. C.C.’s given up five long balls in his past four starts.

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Upon coming off the DL with the hip ailment, Sabathia looked really good in his first four outings, giving up only four runs in 23 innings pitched. He went 6+ innings in three of those starts. Since then, he is trending in the wrong direction.

Although Sabathia gave up just one run over two ALCS starts against the Astros last season, he was nowhere near that effective in his latest performance against the reigning World Champions.

Whatever the circumstances that surround the 37-year-old southpaw’s fragile body, we know that Sabathia will do everything in his power to help this Yankees team win a World Championship this season, because he wants to retire on top.

Back on May 7, George King of the NY Post asked Sabathia about his future, to which C.C. replied:

"“I want one more parade and pretty sure that will be it…That’s what you play for,’’ Sabathia told The Post. “I thought I had it last year.”"

The Bombers are already short one starting pitcher with Jordan Montgomery on the DL — and in his stead, Domingo German has been roughed up in each of his past three outings. If the Yankees were to go down another starter, who’s going to step up?

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Sabathia, a fierce competitor, might very well be trying to hold down the fort by pitching hurt until the cavalry arrives in the form of GM Brian Cashman’s acquisition of another arm to shore up an inconsistent Yankee rotation.