After much anticipation, Yankees starter CC Sabathia has joined the exclusive 3,000 strikeout club during Tuesday night’s start in Arizona against the Diamondbacks. John Ryan Murphy was the lucky winner, fanning on a change-up to end the second inning. Sabathia had struck out David Peralta and Christian Walker earlier in the inning as well.
3️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ #LegaCCy pic.twitter.com/idndrrImjn
— MLB Stats (@MLBStats) May 1, 2019
Sabathia, 38, is in 17th place on the all-time strikeouts leaderboard behind John Smoltz at 3,084. He’s one of only three lefties in the 3,000 strikeout club. Sabathia could also conceivably pass Curt Schilling (3,116) and Bob Gibson (3,117) and move into 14th place by the end of the season.
Sabathia entered Tuesday’s start having allowed just four earned runs on 10 hits and four walks with 11 strikeouts over 15 innings on the season. The potential Hall of Famer plans to retire at the conclusion of the 2019 season.
