GRAND& SLAMMED!
Yankee bats save the day after Tanaka rocked again
Brian McCann (l.) receives congratulations at home plate from Chris Young (c.) and Brett Gardner after first-inning grand slam, but Yanks must rally late for 9-6 win over Astros after Masahiro Tanaka (inset) struggles in second straight start, allowing six runs in five innings.
HOUSTON — The record will reflect a win for the Yankees Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t a good news day overall for the Bombers.
Masahiro Tanaka was shelled for six runs over five innings, leaving a dark cloud hanging over the Yankees’ 9-6 win over the Astros at Minute Maid Park.
Mark Teixeira’s two-run double to left center snapped a tie game in the eighth inning, giving the Yankees their second straight victory in Houston.
Dellin Betances picked up his sixth save of the season, one of four Yankees relievers to combine for four scoreless innings.
“It was just kind of one of those old-fashioned slugfests,” Teixeira said. “Whoever was going to get the big hit at the end of the game was going to win, and we did.”
Still, Tanaka’s latest outing has to be a concern for the Yankees, who have enough questions within their starting rotation without having to worry about their ace.
Tanaka’s first three starts back from the disabled list gave the Yankees the belief that he was back in form. But his past two outings have been disastrous, leading to the obvious question: Is he injured or just ineffective?
“He threw up to 93, 94 today,” Joe Girardi said. “There’s nothing that tells me he’s not healthy. His stuff just wasn’t sharp today. That’s something that we have to get corrected.”
The Yankees staked Tanaka to a six-run cushion by the second inning as Brian McCann hit a grand slam to right against Brett Oberholtzer in the first and Chris Young tacked on a tworun homer to left against the lefty in the second. But Tanaka coughed up that lead by the fifth, getting hit hard by the majors’ top home run-hitting team.
Chris Carter, Carlos Correa and Jose Altuve all took Tanaka deep, the latter two going back-to-back in the fifth inning to tie the game, sending the sellout crowd — only the second of the season for the Astros — into a frenzy.
“It was a tough game,” Tanaka said through a translator. “I just kept on missing my spots, wasn’t able to do what I wanted to do.”
Tanaka had not allowed three home runs in a game over his first 27 career starts, but he’s now done it twice in a row. He’s given up 13 runs (11 earned) over his last 10 innings, posting the worst back-to-back starts of his bigleague career.
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild thought Tanaka was trying to be too fine on the corners of the plate instead of attacking the strike zone, a recipe for disaster for a pitcher struggling with location.
“I think the command of the fastball in both starts has not been good,” Rothschild said. “Today, he got away from throwing the fastball. He did it early, but maybe he just felt like it wasn’t there from the get-go. He warmed up really well and he had command, so I need to talk to him and see where the beginning of it is and where we have to go with it.”
Once McCann and Young went deep for the quick 6-0 lead, it looked like the Yankees would have an easy day.
But Tanaka gave back two runs in the second, then Carter crushed a solo homer to left in the fourth, pulling Houston within three.
Tanaka issued a leadoff walk to George Springer in the fifth, then fell behind 2-0 to Correa before the phenom blasted a two-run homer to right field. The crowd was loud, but it would only get louder as Altuve took Tanaka deep to left two pitches later, tying the game.
Pat Neshek walked Brett Gardner to open the eighth, then Young hit a grounder to third. Gardner came in with a hard slide at second base, causing Altuve to miss the bag.
Umpire Joe West ruled Gardner safe, a play that stood after a video review proved too inconclusive to overturn the call.
“It’s kind of a weird play,” Gardner said. “My cleat got tangled up in his shoelace and he was jumping up, so he pulled my foot way up in the air. I wasn’t sure if I was safe or out, to be honest.”
One out later, Teixeira drilled a tworun double to give the Yankees a lead, then Chase Headley added a solo shot to left in the ninth.
“It’s frustrating to lose that lead, but we came back and got some big hits when it mattered,” Gardner said. “A really, really big win for us.”