Yankees Lose Sabathia, Then Pettitte to Injuries On Wednesday morning, placing C. C. Sabathia on the disabled list had been the luxury of time and a starting staff rejuvenated by the ageless Andy Pettitte, whose consistency and strikeout rate, at 40, had rivaled Sabathia's. Sabathia would miss two starts, the Yankees reasoned. His strained groin muscle needed rest, and with the All-Star Game week less than two weeks away, he would return after the break. The starter turned reliever Freddy Garcia would start in his place Friday. If there were any comfort in Sabathia's expectedly brief absence, it vanished Wednesday afternoon in the Yankees" 5-4 victory over the Cleveland Indians as quickly as Casey Kotchman's fifth-inning grounder got to Pettitte, fracturing his left ankle. Although surgery is not required, the Yankees announced that Pettitte would miss a minimum of six weeks. Pettitte tried to persuade Manager Joe Girardi to let him stay in. Pettitte had bruised his pitching hand on June 10, fielding a comebacker against the Mets. Girardi let him finish the inning and Pettitte did not miss a start. On Wednesday Pettitte threw one pitch to the next batter, then was pulled. At the time, the Yankees led, 2-1, and Pettitte had seven strikeouts - five on his slider - in 64 pitches of work. Cody Eppley and Clay Rapada could not get out of the fifth inning in relief of Pettitte, combining to allow three hits and two runs to score. It took Sabathia's stopgap replacement, Garcia, to stop the bleeding in the fifth, then hold the Indians hitless in the sixth and seventh. Sabathia had felt a tug in a groin muscle, Girardi said, during the fourth inning Sunday against the Mets. Sabathia decided not to tell anyone, but he reported it Tuesday after his bullpen session when the discomfort did not improve. A magnetic resonance imaging test Tuesday revealed a Grade-1 strain in his left groin - specifically, the adductor muscle on the inside of his push-off leg. Girardi said that Sabathia did not want to go on the disabled list, "but I think he understood that it's the best thing to do." "Two starts is sure better than missing seven or eight," Girardi said. General Manager Brian Cashman said of Sabathia, "He could pitch with it and feel it, but that doesn't make sense." Before the game, Cashman indicated that Adam Warren, a 24-year-old right-hander pitching for Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, would be promoted to reinforce the rotation after Garcia made Sabathia's first start. By the afternoon, after Garcia was needed more immediately, it was unclear what the Yankees would do. Robinson Cano hit his seventh home run in 10 games, a two-run shot in the sixth off starter Ubaldo Jimenez, to gave the Yankees a 4-3 lead. Dave Robertson pitched a perfece eighth, and Eric Chavez added a run-scoring single in the bottom of the inning. In a tense moment reminding fans of Mariano Rivera's absence, Rafael Soriano loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Soriano struck out Johnny Damon, walked Michael Brantley - making it 5-4 - then got Asdrubal Cabrera to fly out. It was Soriano's 17th save. The Yankees improved to 19-5 in June, relying on the long ball and just enough pitching entering the heart of another summer's heat. They will have to sweat it out without Rivera, who won't be back, without Pettitte, who will be fitted for a protective boot and given crutches, and for a while without Sabathia.