Sabathia baffles M’s

SEATTLE – CC Sabathia ignored a scary comebacker off his chest for his 18th victory, Mark Teixeira homered twice and drove in a season-high five runs and the New York Yankees resumed their cruise to the A.L. East title with a 10-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday night.

Sabathia (18-7), who was 1-3 in early May, allowed four hits and one run in seven innings to bolster his candidacy for the A.L.’s Cy Young Award. He walked two, struck out eight and tied Adam Wainwright of St. Louis for the major league lead in wins.

He also kept New York six games ahead of second-place Boston for the division lead, with 13 games left in the regular season.

One night after closer Mariano Rivera was stunned by a game-winning, two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth by Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki, the Yankees reduced their magic number for clinching a 14th postseason appearance in 15 seasons to two games. Their magic number to clinch the division is nine.

Teixeira’s five RBIs leave the MVP candidate with 118, most in the A.L. He is second in the league with 37 home runs, two behind injured Carlos Pena of Tampa Bay.

Sabathia was coasting while up 6-0 in the bottom of the fifth, thanks to Teixeira’s three-run homer in New York’s four-run fifth. Then Franklin Gutierrez hit a liner high off Sabathia’s chest near the collarbone. Manager Joe Girardi and a trainer rushed to Sabathia from the dugout, and captain Derek Jeter ran in from his shortstop position. For a moment, the key to New York’s postseason rotation seemed to be in jeopardy.

Nah. The burly left-hander simply winced, rubbed where the ball hit, talked for a minute and then shooed everyone away.

Sabathia finished the inning but lost the shutout when third baseman Alex Rodriguez skipped a rushed, one-hop throw way past Teixeira at first base on a ball hit by Jose Lopez. Gutierrez scored from first on the error.

Hideki Matsui hit his 26th homer in the fourth, a towering shot off rookie starter Doug Fister.

Robinson Cano had four of New York’s 18 hits, three of them doubles.

Fister (2-3) allowed nine hits and six runs in four-plus innings. The 25-year-old allowed half that many runs when he beat New York on Aug. 16.

Sabathia improved to 6-1 at Safeco Field. He also regained the A.L. lead in innings from Seattle’s Felix Hernandez. Sabathia has thrown 2201/3.

Carlos Silva, Seattle’s $48 million starter, allowed two hits, a walk and a run while getting two outs in the eighth. It was his first appearance since a start on May 6. He missed 114 games while on the disabled list with a bum shoulder.