NEW YORK _ History was up for grabs Monday night at Yankee Stadium and two significant Major League records were matched. On the same night where Aaron Hicks tied the Yankees for the most consecutive games with a home run as a team, CC Sabathia notched career win number 251 in a 10-8 win over the Toronto Blue Jays.
With the victory, Sabathia ties Bob Gibson for 47th on the all-time wins list. More importantly, Gibson and Sabathia now share the record for the second-most wins for an African-American pitcher in baseball history.
Toronto took a quick 2-0 lead in the first after an Eric Sogard walk to start the game and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s RBI double. Later in the inning, Rowdy Tellez drove in the second Blue Jays run, scoring Guerrero Jr. with an RBI double of his own.
From there, Sabathia took control, allowing just four baserunners in the next five innings with two hits, a walk and a fielding error he committed. Sabathia struck out nine on the night, including three in the sixth inning that saw Toronto threaten with runners on the corners.
Sabathia was on the losing end of the decision until the fifth, when the Yankees broke through against Blue Jays starter Aaron Sanchez. Managing just two hits through the first four innings, DJ LeMahieu and Luke Voit each had one-out singles to set the stage for Aaron Hicks. Hicks hit his fifth of the season, which gave the Yankees a 3-2 lead.
The home run did more than just tie the record of 27 straight games with a home run, set first by the 2002 Texas Rangers. It prevented the Yankees from being shutout for the 160th straight game, tying the 2001 Rangers for the sixth-longest streak since 1900. The Yankees from 1931-1933 have that mark, scoring a run in 308 straight games.
After Sabathia got through the sixth, the Yankees offense exploded. A seven-run inning came as 12 batters came to the plate. An RBI single by Gio Urshela, an RBI groundout for Brett Gardner and a two-RBI double by Voit put the Yankees ahead, 7-2. The inning was capped off by Giancarlo Stanton's three-run home run, his first of the season, to make it 10-2.
New York finished with 13 hits, 11 of which came from the fifth inning on. LeMahieu went 4-for-4 from the plate with a walk and four singles, scoring twice.
The Yankees appeared to cruise to another victory, their 50th of the season, but would run into resistance in the eighth. Jonathan Holder would allow all five batters he faced to reach base and score, capped by a Freddy Galvis grand slam. This would force the main arms in the Yankee bullpen to stir, beginning with Chad Green, who was considered a frontrunner to begin Tuesday's game as an opener.
Green struck out two and allowed two hits in two-thirds of an inning before Adam Ottavino threw three pitches and struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to end the eighth inning. Aroldis Chapman then entered in the ninth inning, notching his American League-tying 22nd save of the season. Chapman allowed a one-out double to Randal Grichuk, who went to third on a fielding error by Stanton. Grichuk scored on a sacrifice fly.
