Bronx, N.Y., April 9, 2015; Toronto 6, Yankees 3 — It was easy to think of it, that thing that has reared its ugly head quite a few times since CC Sabathia went from being the Yankee horse — who largely carried them to Championship No. 27 in 2009 — to a pinstriped puzzle. From 2009 through 2012 he won 11, 14, 11, and nine more games, respectively, than he lost, then his 2013 mark slipped to 14-13, before his knee gave way last year at 3-4.

While fully granting that wins and losses are not the way to judge a starter, if you’ve been watching, you’ll acknowledge the trend behind the numbers. And you’ll also nod knowingly when I mention that in many of the losses, he pitched well, except for that one inning when it all fell apart.

It was actually a little earlier than usual, but what could have been a great start Thursday was ruined when the first four batters in the second inning reached CC for hits. All four would score, one on a fifth hit, and if you were watching and doubting the home team could match that number of runs over nine innings, you were right. And it was such a shame, because two outs into the sixth the big Yankee lefty had yielded just one more hit, a Jose Reyes bloop past second in the fifth. Sabathia would leave after back-to-back singles, one to the shortstop hole, and a throwing error put a fifth run (unearned) in his stat line, but he threw 4 2/3 dominant innings. He struck out seven of nine batters in the first, third, and fourth innings, and retired 14 of 15 around the ugly second, with a double play erasing Reyes after his hit in the fifth. CC’s strikes/balls ratio including the second was a superb 68/27, he threw 15 of 24 first-pitch strikes, and got the Jays to swing and miss 16 times.

While Toronto was turning five at bats in the second into four runs, the weak-hitting Yankees wasted a one-out walk in the second, a single in the third, and a second-and-third, no-outs setup in the fourth while scoring no runs. Even when they put together two hits for a run in the fifth, Didi Gregorius blunted the rally by being thrown out making too wide a turn at first. Fans got to cheer Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira home runs in the home sixth, but this frame, too, ended with runners dying on second and third after backup catcher John Ryan Murphy’s second double of the night. Young Blue Jays lefty Daniel Norris was impressive, but the Yanks had more than enough opportunities to climb out of their early hole.

So what we’re left with is a starter who will be effective in most games, and in most innings of games, but flirt with losing with the one bad inning? On April 11, 2014, 363 days before this game, CC started a game against John Lester and the Red Sox. Through five innings New York was up 1-0 on an Alfonso Soriano home run, and Sabathia had been reached for nothing but a harmless single; he even got the last two batters of the fifth swinging. But the first five Boston at bats in the sixth produced a home run, strike out, single, single, and home run. The sudden onslaught ended quickly, with two more strike outs, but the Bombers fell, 4-2. That one not only went bad quickly; it did so loudly, with two long balls sandwiching the singles. And this Spring Training he showed the same trend, effective stretches of pitching interrupted by a few home runs in a big inning. He even gave up three bombs when he pitched a minor league game two weeks ago.

But to paint the scenario that way misses a huge point. There were no loud hits in tonight’s Blue Jays outburst. Yankee killer Edwin Encarnacion got the second started with his second opposite-field single against the overshift of this series (even if he would later add his second bomb to left off Esmil Rogers in the eighth). The single was not struck sharply, nor was the Danny Valencia infield single that bounced off CC and initially loaded the bases. The fourth and fifth one-base hits were sandwiched around two RBI grounders, and none of these were hit very hard either. Not only did Toronto bats fail to batter Sabathia with a long ball or two, the only fly ball he allowed the whole night was an Encarnacion broken-bat flair to short left in the sixth, the last out the Yankee southpaw would record on the night. Seven of the outs CC got were on ground balls.

So beat your breast, and put Sabathia in your worry line along with Masahiro Tanaka three games into the 2015 season. I think to do so would be jumping the gun on both points. Tanaka pitched well with one bad inning too, but even his effective frames were not as dominant as what CC showed tonight. Tanaka’s outing was largely ruined by one huge error, while tonight’s damage was a short series of soft blows. No, I think your rotation worries are overinflated. If you want to worry about this south Bronx team, think back to last year. Don’t worry about the one bad inning Yankee pitching might struggle through.

Think rather of the inning-by-inning failures of this offense.

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!