Even when he's having an off night, Sabathia delivers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - It was nearly a second-guesser's delight.

Instead, last night's 4-3 victory over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium goes down as victory No. 15 for CC Sabathia, with David Robertson earning his first save of the season.

As fans who watched know, there was far more to it than that. With Sabathia having pitched 82/3 innings, two on and two out in the ninth and the Yankees ahead 4-1, manager Joe Girardi, on a sweltering night, lifted Sabathia.

Robertson, with Mariano Rivera unavailable because he had worked the previous two games, allowed a two-run double by Willie Bloomquist to cut the Yankees' lead to 4-3. Wilson Betemit then reached on an infield single, but Robertson struck out Jason Kendall, who fouled off four of the final six pitches, for the final out.

Girardi said the conditions - a heat index of 106 that knocked Royals outfielder Gregor Blanco from the game in the fifth with heat exhaustion - was the biggest factor, along with Bloomquist already having two hits against Sabathia. So he removed the lefthander, who at 15-5 matched Tampa Bay's David Price for most victories in the American League.

"With the heat, we don't want to wear this big guy down," Girardi said. "He's important to us down the stretch."

Sabathia, whose season-high in pitches this season is 123, started the ninth at 100. He retired the first batter but allowed consecutive singles. After a fielder's choice, Girardi brought in Robertson to face Bloomquist.

"That's a tough decision for him to make," said Sabathia, who allowed 10 hits and three runs. "I felt like I could have finished but I have a lot of confidence in the guys in the bullpen . . . That's Joe's job is to judge when I'm done and I think he did a good job."

Robertson has faced his share of hairy situations this season in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but said pitching the ninth - a rare experience for any Yankee reliever when the team has the lead - felt unique.

"Yeah, it's a little different," Robertson said. "Because when I come set, I'm looking at the tying run on third base and knowing that we don't get another chance to hit if I give up a hit. So there's a little more pressure."

The win allowed the Yankees (71-43) to increase their lead over the idle Rays to two games and to six games over the Red Sox, who lost in Toronto.

The Yankees had 10 hits, including three by Nick Swisher. They got two hits each from Curtis Granderson, in his first start since reworking his swing with hitting coach Kevin Long, Austin Kearns, who hit his first home run since joining the Yankees before the trade deadline, and Derek Jeter.

Even on a sticky night in Kansas City, one that featured a first-pitch temperature of 94 degrees, Sabathia has always said he feels "loose" pitching in extreme heat. He also had an extra few ticks on his fastball, hitting 99 more than a few times.

"It's just something you have to deal with," said Sabathia, who started flooding his body with fluids Wednesday and continued last night by downing one bottle of water and one Gatorade between innings. "Everybody's dealing with it. The hitters are dealing with it, so you just go out, put it out of your mind and pitch the game."

For Sabathia, very nearly a complete one.