Sabathia proves fitness as he frustrates the Mets

CC Sabathia silences all doubt concerning his arm injury, firing seven strong innings to lead the Yankees to victory over their New York rivals.

CC Sabathia pitches against the New York Mets on Friday night. His performance demonstrated that he was back to full fitness after injury.

CC Sabathia silenced all doubt concerning his arm injury, firing seven strong innings to lead the New York Yankees to a 9-1 victory over the New York Mets in Interleague action on Friday. Sabathia, who withdrew from last Sunday's start after just one and a third innings, returned to form by striking out eight batters and allowing just one run.

Alex Rodriguez pounded a home run to right field in the eighth inning to surpass Reggie Jackson on the all-time list with the 564th of his career, after the Yankees capitalised on early errors by the Mets for their third successive win. It was the second consecutive one-sided win of the Subway Series after the Yankees routed the Mets 15-0 in the last meeting between the teams June 14. This time, lead-off hitter Brett Gardner recorded five hits and three runs for the Yankees, who scored four runs in the second inning when the Mets committed three errors.

Throwing miscues by Alex Cora and Nick Evans, put the Mets 4-0 down. The Mets starter Mike Pelfrey pitched five innings and was only charged for two of the runs. The Yankees tacked on three in the eighth, where Rodriguez and Gardner homered, and added two in the ninth. Meanwhile in other action, Josh Beckett threw seven scoreless innings while David Ortiz homered as American League East leaders Boston Red Sox beat the Atlanta Braves 4-1.

Beckett allowed six hits and struck out six while Ortiz struck his eighth homer of the season in the fifth. Miguel Tejada hit a double and drove in two runs as the Houston Astros rallied for a 5-4 win over the Detroit Tigers. Detroit had led 4-0 by the second inning before Tejada doubled in the third and drove in the winning run in the eighth. David Murphy hit a three-run home run as the Texas Rangers eased to a 12-2 victory over the San Diego Padres.

Geovany Soto struck a three-run homer to guide the Chicago Cubs to their first win in five games with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox. The Los Angeles Angels produced their biggest inning of the season to power past the Arizona Diamondbacks 12-3. Tori Hunter struck a two-run home run in an eight-run second inning blitz. * PA Sport