CC's quest for 3,000 K's down to three

ANAHEIM -- CC Sabathia continued to move toward a significant milestone on Wednesday, striking out three Angels to give the veteran left-hander 2,997 for his career, three shy of becoming the 17th pitcher in Major League history to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau.

With a large group of friends and family members on hand at Angel Stadium to witness the Yankees' come-from-behind 6-5 victory over the Angels, Sabathia was hit hard through five innings, serving up two solo homers to Andrelton Simmons and a three-run Kole Calhoun blast.

"I just didn't make good pitches," Sabathia said. "I felt like I was in good counts to get some outs, but I just didn't make enough pitches. Three-run homer to a lefty, that's just unacceptable. I'll try to be better next time out."

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Sabathia struck out Jonathan Lucroy in the second inning, then caught Mike Trout looking and fanned Simmons in the fifth inning. Sabathia was charged with five runs (four earned) and six hits, walking none in the 86-pitch effort.

"He got bit with the home run ball and some mistakes tonight but still managed to get us through five," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

With three more punchouts, Sabathia will be the third left-hander to join the 3,000 strikeout club, joining Randy Johnson (4,875) and Steve Carlton (4,136). On the all-time strikeouts list, Sabathia is chasing John Smoltz (3,084), who resides in 16th place.

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"It's cool, especially that short list of lefties," Sabathia said prior to Wednesday's start. "To join that list would be cool, but it's something that I can't really think about now. I'm focusing on making sure that I stay healthy enough to help the team win. I'm glad that I'll be able to get this out of the way kind of early."

Smoltz was the last pitcher to join the 3,000 club, having done so with the Braves on April 22, 2008 against the Nationals. Of the 16 current 3,000-strikeout pitchers, 14 are Hall of Famers, excluding Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling.

Sabathia's next start is scheduled to come on Tuesday against the D-backs at Arizona's Chase Field.

"If it was September and I was retiring and not having any more starts, it would be a little more stressful," Sabathia said. "I'll have starts left, so I'm not stressed out about it."