CC Sabathia, unlike Yankees bullpen, showed up for his biggest start in years

CLEVELAND — CC Sabathia wanted to stay in.

Sabathia had retired 12 of 13, and the Yankees had a five-run lead with one out in the sixth. So yes, the 37-year-old veteran was a bit surprised by Joe Girardi’s quick hook — especially given that he’d only thrown 77 pitches.

“I mean, yeah, but it is what it is,” Sabathia said following the Bombers’ heartbreaking 9-8, 13-inning loss to the Indians on Friday in Game 2 of the ALDS at Progressive Field.

“But as I’ve said before, our bullpen is the strength of this team, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.”

Indeed, Girardi has lived and died with his power relief arms all year long.

And the Bombers’ bullpen, assembled by Brian Cashman, was the reason they were in this spot in the first place — having recorded 26 of the final 27 outs in Tuesday’s wild-card game after Luis Severino faltered in his postseason debut.

CC Sabathia was a bit surprised by Joe Girardi’s quick hook — especially given that he’d only thrown 77 pitches. (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Yet that’s exactly why it was hard not to wonder whether the group was affected by all of those taxing outings three days later – even if they’d never admit it.

In all, they were charged with five runs on six hits over 6.2 innings.

“We had faith in them,” Greg Bird said. “They’ve been great. We played our butts off, but it’s tough, and now we really have to bounce back.”

Chad Green, who came out of nowhere to throw like the 1996 version of Mariano Rivera in 2017, mostly with his blazing fastball, hung a 1-0 backdoor breaking ball that Francisco Lindor drilled off the right-field foul pole for a game-changing grand slam.

Chad Green. (Phil Long/AP)

Green, of course, should’ve been out of the inning already. But there was no challenge on Lonnie Chisenhall’s apparent strike-three foul tip, and that was that. The even more unfortunate part: Green got beat with his second-best pitch.

“I felt good,” said Green, responding to a question about possible fatigue. “It’s frustrating, for sure. I have to do a better job of getting out of that inning right there.”

The Indians would tie the game in the eighth when David Robertson threw a 3-1 fastball that Yankee Killer Jay Bruce drilled over the left-field wall. Robertson, of course, had gone a career-high 3.1 innings on Tuesday and already recorded four outs on Friday.

“I felt great out there physically,” said Robertson, who bemoaned not getting a couple breaking balls over earlier in the at-bat, which caused him to fall behind.

“I’m not going to say that’s an issue for me. I just didn’t make the right pitch at the right time. The last thing I wanted to do was walk him.”

It was the first run Robertson had surrendered since Aug. 24.

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Yankees vs. Indians 2017 American League Division Series

Tommy Kahnle and Aroldis Chapman, returning to the scene of his blown save in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, combined to throw 2.2 scoreless innings.

Girardi then turned to the suddenly righted Dellin Betances, who needed just 19 pitches to breeze through the 11th and 12th. So the manager kept him out there again, not wanting to turn to Jordan Montgomery or Adam Warren just yet.

Betances, a four-time All-Star, issued a leadoff walk to Austin Jackson.

Everyone in the stadium knew he was going to try to steal second, and he did so successfully against Betances, who had allowed 29 steals over the past two seasons coming in – the most by any reliever over that span.

Then Betances threw a curveball to Yan Gomes, who smacked it down the left-field line for the walk-off RBI single.

Just like that, the Bombers, who went 18-26 in one-run games during the regular season, had lost another. And this one — an absolute implosion given they got beat with their best relievers on the mound — stung.

David Robertson watches Jay Bruce’s home run leave the yard. (Ken Blaze/USA Today Sports)

“I was just trying to go as long as possible,” Betances said. “I tried to make some pitches, but that was a good piece of hitting by Gomes. I didn’t have much leeway, and I didn’t think the curveball to Gomes was a bad pitch. It’s a tough loss, obviously.”

This young and talented team has come further than most expected them to, so it’s hard to be overly critical at this point.

But they didn’t come through this time, and now the Yankees are on the brink of elimination – needing to go 3-0 to survive and advance.

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