Robinson Cano, don’t ya know

Prior to the 10th inning, the Yankees had six at bats with runners in scoring position and no hits. On the seventh at-bat, Robinson Cano delivered. It was a no-doubter, gone off the bat, and the Yankees went home happy, 5-2 winners in 10 innings over the reeling White Sox.

For much of the game, CC Sabathia was the story. He utterly dominated the White Sox for six innings before running into trouble in the seventh. A great throw by Nick Swisher and a stellar bare-handed tag by Jose Molina held the White Sox at two runs, and it would be enough.

On the night, CC threw seven innings and allowed just those two earned runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out 10 White Sox and recorded a season high — for any pitcher — 25 swing-and-misses. He threw first-pitch strikes to 22 of 29 hitters and didn’t walk away with a win because the Yankees’ offense just didn’t come through. Of the 113 pitches he threw, 78 of them were strikes. With 41 K in his last 37.1 innings pitched, Sabathia is on.

For the Yankees’ offense, the night was one of frustration. They knocked out eight hits against Mark Buehrle and six in the first three innings. Yet their two earned runs scored on solo shots by Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon. It was a tough night — 14 baserunners with three runs scoring on a two-out home run in the bottom of the tenth by Robbie Cano. But a win is a win is a win. While the Blue Jays and Red Sox sit out a rain delay, the Yanks’ magic number will go down to at least 29 tonight.

After Sabathia left, the Yankee bullpen took. Phil Hughes went first, and he dominated. He faced three batters, threw 10 of his 14 pitches for strikes and walked away with three K’s. Mariano Rivera followed suit. He struck out just one hitter and threw just 10 pitches in his 1-2-3 inning. For reasons unknown both Rivera and Hughes did not throw multiple innings tonight. With such low pitches counts, both pitchers could have gone a second inning. But it was not to be, and Brian Bruney threw a 1-2-3 tenth. He walked away with the win.

In the tenth, the Yankees paid back some of those two-out runs they had been giving up in bunches lately. After Mark Teixeira went down strikes and A-Rod flew out to center on a ball that, on a warmer night, would have been a walk-off home run on a warmer night, the rally began. Hideki Matsui drew a key walk, Nick Swisher drew a key walk, and up came Robinson Cano.

Prior to tonight, Cano was not the guy we wanted up in that situation. With runners in scoring position this year, he was hitting just .204/.237/.313 with just two home runs in 156 plate appearances. In those situations, he has a .211 BABIP, suggesting a great amount of bad luck. With two outs and runners in scoring position, Cano is even worse. He’s hitting .181/.218/.277 with a .171 BABIP. Yet, on a 2-2 pitch, Cano lined a ball over the right-center field fence for a walk-off home run. He got his pie; the Yanks got their win; and we all went home happy.