CALIFORNIA SCREAMIN’!
Tanaka lit up for 3 homers by A’s as Yankees drop 5th straight on trip out west
OAKLAND — The Yankees desperately needed Masahiro Tanaka to be their stopper on Saturday. He wasn’t. If only they could stop pitching him. Tanaka gave up three homers, and the Yankees lost for the fifth time in a row, their cushion in the AL East all but gone.
“That’s unacceptable,” Tanaka said after the Bombers were defeated 5-2 by the A’s at Oakland Coliseum, their lead over the Red Sox still a game in the division after Boston lost to Houston on Saturday night. “It’s very frustrating.”
It’s looking more and more likely that Tanaka will be opting into the final three years and $67 million left on his contract after this season, meaning the Yankees are going to have plenty of time to figure out how to get him right.
He did have 10 strikeouts and one walk in four innings on Saturday, but also gave up five runs on eight hits.
“It’s something we haven’t seen before,” Joe Girardi said for what feels like the 1,000th time this season. “The last three years he’s been really good at selfcorrecting. For whatever reason, he’s having a hard time doing it, but we have to get back to work.”
Just five days earlier, Tanaka had a solid outing, Aaron Judge blasted a majestic go-ahead homer and the Yankees won their sixth straight in Anaheim. But things have spiraled downhill ever since, quickly turning this into a West Coast roadtrip gone wrong.
CC Sabathia and Adam Warren have landed on the disabled list. Gary Sanchez and Aaron Hicks are dealing with injuries. Greg Bird’s minor-league rehab assignment was shut down. Even super prospect Gleyber Torres appeared to hurt his left elbow after sliding headfirst at home in Triple-A Scranton’s game at Buffalo on Saturday.
The starters simply haven’t given enough length, taxing the bullpen as a result. And the offense — for all its potency — hasn’t seemed to come up with that final key hit.
“We’re just not getting the job done,” Judge said. “We’re not getting guys on, we’re not capitalizing when we get guys in scoring position, but we’re battling, we’re fighting. That’s the one key is we’re out there fighting still.”
The Yankees led on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, only to drop all four of those games. It’s why Girardi is staying optimistic. “It’s not what you want, it’s frustrating, but it’s a long year,” Girardi said. “And we’ll get it turned around. We’ll get hot again, and hopefully we don’t have a cold spell where we lose five in a row again. But there’s going to be days where we just don’t get it done.” Tanaka’s struggles make you wonder even more whether Brian Cashman will pursue the likes of Jose Quintana, Gerrit Cole or Sonny Gray at the trade deadline. They need their 28-year-old righty now more than ever. But it’s been one dud after the other.
The Yankees will now send the inexperienced Luis Cessa to the mound on Sunday. At least Aroldis Chapman should finally be activated from the DL. But that’s pretty much it, as nothing else seems to going right.
“No one likes to lose. We’re a team, we don’t like to lose,” Judge said. “We want to go out there and win every game, just like everybody else. It’s a long season, and we’re going to learn from this. We’re going to have those times where you hit a little skid like this. It happens. You’re going to get beat up, but that’s the thing I loved about our team the last couple games is we’re still fighting, still battling. So we’re going to keep doing that the rest of the series and take it on home.”