Sabathia allows five homers in 5-1 loss

Joe Girardi had no doubt that CC Sabathia would bounce back from one of his worst starts of the season. "I expect him to be really good tonight," Girardi said before Friday night's game.

Didn't happen.

Far from it.

Yankees fans, already on edge because of Mariano Rivera's recent troubles, now have another reason to worry. Sabathia allowed five home runs for the first time in his career in a 5-1 loss to the Rays in front of 47,894 at the Stadium.

Sabathia (16-7), hammered last Saturday in a 10-4 loss at Boston, lost a second straight start for the first time since July 27 and Aug. 1, 2010, at Cleveland and Tampa Bay. He allowed five runs and 10 hits, seven of them for extra bases, in eight innings.

"You never know what you're going to see at the ballpark,'' Girardi said. "Tonight was a strange night.''

Entering the game, Sabathia had allowed eight home runs in 1822/3 innings this season. "It's baseball,'' he said. "It's a humbling sport, and today was definitely humbling.''

Three of the home runs came in the third inning as Casey Kotchman, Kelly Shoppach and Johnny Damon gave David Price -- who is 3-0 with a 1.56 ERA in five career starts against Sabathia, all of which the Rays won -- a 3-0 lead. Elliot Johnson homered in the fifth and Evan Longoria went deep in the eighth.

Sabathia has allowed 29 hits (seven of which were home runs) and 14 runs (all earned) in 22 innings in his last three starts. Three of the home runs were by lefthanded hitters.

Girardi discounted fatigue and didn't see any common thread in Sabathia's last three outings (including Chicago, when he gave up 10 hits but won). "I think it's just what everyone goes through,'' he said. "This game can be humbling at times. I didn't think he had his great fastball command tonight and I think that's probably what led to some of the trouble."

Sabathia, who walked none and struck out seven, said four of the homers were off fastballs and one off a changeup.

He said pitching on five days' rest instead of four had no impact, adding: "I can't sit here and say that because I had an extra day, that's the reason I gave up five homers. I just had a bad start."

Nor did he blame fatigue, saying: "Not at all. I felt great today. The velocity was there. When I did throw the ball where I wanted to, I felt good about it. Just didn't do it all night."

It was the first time Sabathia allowed three homers in an inning since May 1, 2007, against Toronto, when he was with the Indians. Alex Rios, Aaron Hill and Troy Glaus homered in the first inning, though the Indians won that day, 12-4, as a Blue Jays pitcher named A.J. Burnett couldn't hold the early lead.

"You're not used to seeing it, obviously, but he's human, as we all are,'' Mark Teixeira said. "Every now and then, CC's going to have a couple of swings off of him, and tonight was one of those nights."

Price (10-10) acquitted himself well, better than in his last start here -- July 9, when he allowed Derek Jeter's 3,000th career hit, one of five he had that afternoon in the Yankees' 5-4 victory. This time he cruised, allowing one run, six hits and two walks in eight innings.

The Yankees' best chance for a big inning came in the fourth as Robinson Cano singled to left with two outs and Nick Swisher walked. Andruw Jones doubled into the gap in right-center to drive in Cano, making it 3-1, but the relay from Ben Zobrist to Sean Rodriguez to Shoppach cut down Swisher at the plate.