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Yankees’ Sabathia Reaches 3,000 Strikeouts by Fanning an Old Friend

Matt York/Associated Press

PHOENIX — Of all the batters that could become C.C. Sabathia’s 3,000th career strikeout casualty on Tuesday night, there were two he hoped to avoid.

One was Zack Greinke, the Arizona Diamondbacks star pitcher, because pitchers don’t take as much pride in striking out one of their own. The other was John Ryan Murphy, the Diamondbacks catcher who once was Sabathia’s Yankees teammate.

“Me and him are really close,” Sabathia said after Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Diamondbacks. “I’ve been knowing him his whole career.”

Sabathia, 38, has sent many a batter back to the dugout muttering to himself in a potentially Hall of Fame worthy career that has spanned 19 seasons, three teams, a Cy Young Award, six All-Star selections, a World Series ring, 3,490 innings, 54,967 pitches, a transformation from hard-thrower to crafty hurler, and a lot of knee pain.