KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The worst night CC Sabathia has had during 18 years in the big leagues came Wednesday, when the Yankees’ big left-hander had to sleep in the team’s broken-down plane after a rainout in Washington.
Friday night wasn’t all that great, either.
Whit Merrifield had three hits, stole three bases and scored twice off Sabathia in the first four innings, Jakob Junis held down the Yankees’ potent offense, and Kansas City beat New York 5-2 on Friday night to open a three-game series between teams that had been headed radically different directions.
Salvador Perez homered and added three RBIs for the Royals, who had lost five straight and seven of eight, yet managed to stop a team that had won 19 of its last 22 games.
The weather has wreaked havoc on the Yankees’ routine this week, and that breakdown of their plane — combined with other factors that forced players to sleep onboard or in the terminal Wednesday night — hardly left them feeling good about their trip to Kansas City.
“Sleeping on the plan was not good, but I feel good with the rest,” said Sabathia, who allowed two runs and four hits while walking four, along with two unearned runs after second baseman Gleyber Torres coughed up a routine ground ball in the third inning.
Still, Sabathia (2-1) called the night spent on the plane “the worst night I’ve had in the big leagues,” even if he was unwilling to use that or the Yankees’ scattershot schedule as an excuse.
“I’m sure people will take that as part of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “but in 162 games you’re not going to be great every night. We were a little bit sloppy, but whether that was from having a couple of days off, I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
Junis (5-3) pitched into the sixth inning, allowing two runs on seven hits and a walk. But most of the hits he allowed were relatively benign base hits, rather than the towering, game-changing home runs that the Yankees had been hitting with regularity.
Kelvin Herrera capped a strong bullpen effort with a perfect ninth for his ninth save.