Tanaka calls this slump his ‘worst’

Physically, Masahiro Tanaka says there is nothing wrong with him or his $155 million right arm, but the Yankee ace has raised some significant alarms over his last two starts, when he got shelled for a combined 14 earned runs in 4.2 innings pitched. The Japanese righty also gave up a total seven home runs in those two games.

Monday, while rain pelted the Stadium field before the Yankees played the Royals, Tanaka did a long toss under the watchful eye of pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

“Well, I think it’s a combination of things,” Rothschild told the Daily News, referring to what may be affecting Tanaka. “It’s not just one thing. He’s kind of gotten in between changing things. We need to get back to what he does really well, iron the stuff out delivery wise, and that's about it.”

Tanaka, 28, said he agreed with Joe Girardi's assessment that this is the worst stretch of his career, which dates back to his seven seasons with the Rakuten Golden Eagles in Japan’s Pacific League.

“As far as it being one of the worst slumps in my career, I probably have to agree with that. You have to grind it out. You can’t put your head down,” Tanaka said through his translator before Monday’s game. “Physically, there’s no problems at all. I feel fine.”

Girardi said Tanaka (5-3, 6.56 ERA) is in a “little rut” and cited several reasons why he didn't think his ace pitcher’s struggles had to do with anything physical.

“We haven’t seen a real drop in velocity. We haven’t seen (Tanaka) not being able to make his start. We haven’t seen him receiving extra treatment,” said Girardi. “He’s just in a little rut now that he needs to get out (of). He feels fine. And the schedule has been favorable in a sense, to get extra days. We’ve had a ton of off days so maybe getting on every fifth day will help. Who knows?”

Tanaka — whose best start this season came April 27 at Fenway Park when he

pitched a complete game, 3-0 shutout against Boston — said he has gone back to looking at video to see if there is anything mechanical that needs to be corrected, but he wouldn’t divulge much more than that.

“I can’t really go too much into detail of what’s going on, but yes, I was able to check to see some of the things that I’m doing wrong,” said Tanaka. “I feel like I’m in sort of a deep hole. Again, I just can't put my head down. I have to lift my head up, work on the things that I need to work on and try to fix what I need to fix. Definitely it’s frustrating, but I’m trying to get it right.”

Rothschild added that Tanaka, like every athlete, is “human,” but the Yankee pitching coach said Tanaka is resilient enough to bounce back. In Tanaka’s debut season with the Bombers (2014), he started brilliantly only to land on the 60-day disabled list with right elbow inflammation, before returning to pitch at the end of the season.

“There’s nothing that (Tanaka) can’t overcome,” said Rothschild.