Sabathia Smacked Around, Leads to July Fourth Series Opening Loss, 8-2

Happy Fourth of July to everyone out there and a special thank you to those who continue to fight for our freedom every day. On America's birthday, the Yankees were in Chicago facing the White Sox in the first game of the three-game series. C.C. Sabathia toed the rubber for New York this afternoon in hopes of getting the Yankees back to .500. James Shields(2-9) got the nod for Chicago, having been acquired recently in a trade with San Diego, hoping to turn around what has been a less then stellar season for the right-hander. Today, Shields and the White Sox shut down the Bomber bats in route to their commanding game one win.

The Yankees kicked off the scoring this afternoon in the top of the second inning. After Shields allowed a one-out single to Starlin Castro, Chase Headley smacked a line drive home run over the right-field fence that put the Yankees up by two. That play, my Bomber brothers, was unfortunately the last time the Yankees would hit the scoreboard for the rest of the game.

Sabathia was knocked around the ballpark all game long in one of his toughest outings of 2016. Trouble for the lefty started in the bottom of the third where Jason Coats led off the frame with a single and scored when the next batter Tim Anderson launched a two run shot over the right-centerfield wall that tied the game at two. In the bottom of the fifth, Sabathia allowed a one out double to Todd Frazier, who advanced to third on a Melky Cabrera single. Brett Lawrie drove in the third Sox run of the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Frazier, 3-2 Chicago. Then, the next batter Dionner Navarro hit a towering two run shot to left-field that put the Sox up by three. Sabathia was lifted before the start of the seventh, departing with an ugly final line of six innings pitched, allowing five runs on eight hits while walking two and striking out nine.

Luis Sessa was put on damage control and went the rest of the way, allowing the Yankees to not have to burn through their bullpen in the first game of the series. In the bottom of the seventh, the rookie righty served up the second double of the game by Todd Frazier, who scored on an RBI single by Brett Lawrie, 6-2. In the bottom of the eighth, after Anderson reached on a fielding error by Gregorius and an Adam Eaton single, Jose Abreu knocked in Anderson on a soft single to centerfield that made it a 7-2 ball game. The final run of the game scored when Todd Frazier then smacked a single that drove in Eaton, pushing what would be the final score up to 8-2.

Let's hope the boys in pinstripes can turn it around before operation "trade away the franchise" is activated. Tomorrow, Masahiro Tanaka and Carlos Rodon square off in game two, with first pitch scheduled for 8:10 PM ET.