Tanaka finds his form as Yankees beat Cardinals

YANKEES 4, CARDINALS 3

NEW YORK — Masahiro Tanaka got back on track with 61/3 effective innings, Aroldis Chapman escaped his own jam for his third save in three days and the New York Yankees beat the St. Louis Cardinals 4-3 on Friday night for their fifth consecutive victory.

Chapman allowed a two-out walk to Randal Grichuk and a double to pinch-hitter Jose Martinez before Dexter Fowler — the closer’s teammate on the World Series champion Cubs last year — grounded out to second to end it. Chapman got his third save on the season.

Tanaka (1-1) entered with an 11.74 ERA over his first two starts, but he recovered nicely Friday after Matt Carpenter’s two-run home run in the first. The Japanese right-hander allowed 3 runs, 5 hits, 2 walks and struck out 5.

Starlin Castro and Austin Romine homered for New York, which is 4-0 to begin a nine-game homestand.

Michael Wacha (1-1) struck out 8 for struggling St. Louis but allowed 2 home runs and 4 runs over 6 innings.

Manager Joe Girardi has tied Tanaka’s early struggles to poor control and difficulties with his split-finger fastball. Tanaka’s go-to pitch briefly betrayed him when he missed with three splitters to Carpenter — two in the dirt, one over the plate — before the Cardinals’ No. 3 hitter launched his first home run of the season, a two-run shot off a 95-mph sinker.

Tanaka mostly cruised after that. He threw first-pitch strikes to 13 of his first 16 batters and retired 10 consecutive before Matt Adams’ broken-bat

single to start the seventh. A fielder’s choice and a walk followed, and then Grichuk ended Tanaka’s outing with an RBI double to left.

Two batters later, Fowler drove a ball to the warning track off Tyler Clippard, but right fielder Aaron Judge chased it down.