NEW YORK --
Though Estrada and Hernández both hail from Valencia, Venezuela's third-largest city, Monday marked their first time crossing paths. Estrada was 9 years old when Hernández made his Major League debut with the 2005 Mariners, and Estrada said he recalls watching many of Hernández's starts on TV.\n\n\"It's my first game playing here at Yankee Stadium, and facing Félix -- it means a lot,\" Estrada said. \"It's a great opportunity for me. I'm sure I'm going to go back to my phone and I'm going to find many messages.\"\n\nEstrada said he initially thought it was \"strange\" that his teammates hadn't congratulated him, but then Gardner broke the ice with a handshake, prompting a succession of hugs and back slaps.\n\n\"That always tells you we care a lot about a guy,\" Sabathia said. \"That was fun.\"\n\n
Boone said that coaxing Sabathia to qualify for a victory was \"not really\" part of his thought process, but it seemed that way as Sabathia needed 32 pitches to navigate the meat of Seattle's order.\n\nA four-pitch walk to Santana loaded the bases and brought the potential tying run to the plate, but Sabathia got Jay Bruce to chop a broken-bat grounder to Voit at first base, ending the inning.\n\n\"I felt like he was still throwing the ball OK,\" Boone said. \"His pitch count was getting up, especially in that inning. That was a concern and a debate that we were having. Once he got through and it was Bruce, I just felt like he was throwing the ball well enough and we could win the matchup. He got it done.\"\n\nSabathia walked three and struck out five in a 99-pitch effort. His 248 victories surpassed Bartolo Colon and Jack Quinn (247) on the all-time list, tying Amos Rusie for 47th place all-time.\n\n\"I felt good today, not worried about anything, just trying to get outs,\" Sabathia said. \"That mentally felt good, not having that weight of trying to get strikeouts.\"\n\n
\"I was mentally prepared right before that pitch,\" Estrada said. \"Once he hit the ball, I said to myself, 'This is my ground ball to get.' I went and got it, made the play and was excited to make the play and end the inning.\"\n\nNew York's bullpen combined for four innings of scoreless, two-hit relief, striking out six with one walk. Ottavino recorded four outs and