Tanaka pitcher of dominance
Right-hander with Yankees strikes out career-high 15 Jays in seven innings
NEW YORK Among some minor roster shuffling Blue Jays manager John Gibbons made prior to Friday’s matinee at Yankee Stadium, Justin Smoak was given the day off.
The reason? The Jays switchhitting first baseman historically has had minimal success against Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka. Lucky for Smoak, we suppose. Kicking back on a nice fall day in the visitor’s dugout, he was spared an afternoon of utter nastiness from the Yankees’ right-hander, who flirted with a no-hitter through the first half of the game and struck out a career-high 15 by the time he was done.
With Tanaka close to untouch- able, the Bronx Bombers cruised to a 4-0 shutout win in the first of a three-game series to end the 2017 regular season.
“He was as good as he could be today,” Gibbons said of Tanaka.
The Yankees starter didn’t allow a hit until there were two out in the fifth, and that was an infield single from the Jays’ Ezequiel Carrera. By that point, the 28-year-old had already struck out 10 of the first 14 batters he faced, a sharp turnaround from his start in Toronto the previous week when he allowed eight runs in a loss to the Jays. Ignoring the blip at the Rogers Centre, he’s now won five of his past seven starts.
The Jays couldn’t get anything going against him at the plate, get- ting just three hits off Tanaka in his seven innings of work. The biggest victims were leadoff hitter Teoscar Hernandez (three strikeouts) and two each to Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Raffy Lopez.
There was plenty of misery at the plate as the Jays struck out a total of 18 times overall, matching a club record for a nine-inning contest. It was their ninth shutout loss of the season and fifth in their past 34 games.
The loss ended a strong run of offence for the Jays, who had scored at least six runs in four straight games.
WHEN IT RAINS …
Expect plenty of this throughout the off-season and possibly beyond, as long as Josh Donaldson’s future with the team is uncertain.
Well-respected USA Today columnist Bob Nightengale reported on Friday that the St. Louis Cardi- nals, who could use some power in the middle of their order, will strongly pursue the Jays MVP third baseman.
It that’s the case, Donaldson’s stellar play in August and September has certainly driven up the price.
QUICK HITS
There was some lineup juggling for Friday’s opening game of the season’s final series starting with Kevin Pillar. The Jays centre-fielder left the team early to be with his wife, who is about to give birth to the couple’s first child. Leadoff hitter Teoscar Hernandez drew the assignment in centre … With Smoak getting the day off, Kendrys Morales made a rare appearance at first while Bautista moved to DH and Michael Saunders out to right field