Sabathia becomes first 20-game winner in major leagues

BALTIMORE - Cy Young Award winner and World Series champion CC Sabathia can finally add this to his resume:

Twenty-game winner.

The 30-year-old Sabathia captured last night what had eluded him to this point in an outstanding career, winning his 20th game of the season in the Yankees' 11-3 victory over the Orioles in front of a sellout crowd of 48,775 at Camden Yards.

"I'm really happy for him," Joe Girardi said. "He has been our ace all year, really since he's gotten here. To get to 20 wins is quite an accomplishment. There's only a few pitchers that do it every year."

Sabathia, who won 19 games in 2007 and 2009, became the first to do it in the majors this year. Last year, no pitchers reached 20 victories.

Consistent with his low-key approach to individual accolades, that the Yankees won and stayed a half-game ahead of the Rays was the more significant part of the night.

"It feels good but I'm more excited that we won the game and people will stop asking me about it now," Sabathia said smiling. "Every game is so important for us. I didn't think about it at all in Tampa, didn't think about it at all tonight. I was just trying to go out and make good pitches and help us try and get a win."

He did allow: "Maybe after the season, I can sit back and enjoy it more but right now, I'm just looking five days ahead."

Sabathia (20-6, 3.05 ERA), a strong contender for this year's AL Cy Young, wasn't nearly as sharp as he was Monday in St. Petersburg, when he and another contender, David Price, dueled for eight scoreless innings.

But he was good enough and received plenty of support. Sabathia allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings, striking out four and walking one.

The Yankees had 13 hits, including a three-run homer by Curtis Granderson and a two-run shot by Robinson Cano. They also got two hits and two RBIs from Derek Jeter, two RBIs from Jorge Posada, three hits from Brett Gardner and two hits and an RBI from Nick Swisher, who made his return to the lineup at designated hitter.

Cano's two-run homer in the fifth, his 28th home run of the season, gave the Yankees a 6-2 lead and gave him 101 RBIs. He's also the third Yankees infielder to surpass 100 RBIs this season, joining Alex Rodriguez (111) and Mark Teixeira (101).

Some eyebrows were raised in spring training when Girardi tabbed Cano to hit fifth, questions that all but ceased being asked in April.

"Everyone was concerned who was going to hit fifth for us this year after losing Matsui," Girardi said. "Robby has stepped in and has been tremendous all season long."

Orioles starter Jeremy Guthrie, 10-13 with a 3.74 ERA coming in - including 7-3 with a 2.29 ERA the second half of the season - lost his seventh straight start against the Yankees.

His problems started early.

Guthrie, second in the AL in hit batsmen with 13 - A.J. Burnett ranks first with 16 - hit Derek Jeter with the game's first pitch. The plunking was the 10th Yankee Guthrie has hit since July 2008, not including Teixeira and Francisco Cervelli in a spring training game March 29 that drew Girardi's ire.

Girardi didn't say any of the hit batsmen were intentional but said of the total: "It's too many. I know he likes to pitch inside but it's too many."

Jeter called Guthrie "effectively wild," but didn't read anything into it. "I don't think they've been on purpose," he said. "I don't know why he would."