CC, Hiro provide length Yanks were waiting for

BOSTON — The Yankees desperately needed length from their starters on Sunday. And that’s exactly what they got. CC Sabathia and Masahiro Tanaka both went deep into their outings, saving the team’s taxed bullpen.

“It was really important,” Joe Girardi said after his team split both its day-night doubleheader and four-game series with the first-place Red Sox. “It would’ve made tomorrow a lot tougher.”

The Yankees will send Bryan Mitchell to the mound tonight in Minnesota. It will be his first start of the year. Mitchell had posted a 5.06 ERA for the Bombers in 12 appearances out of the bullpen. The 26-year-old righty was 2-2 with a 3.60 ERA in nine starts for Triple-A Scranton in 2017. Domingo German was optioned to Scranton.

Sabathia threw six shutout innings in the Yankees’ 3-0 victory in Game 1 while Tanaka threw 7.2 innings of three-run ball in the team’s 3-0 defeat in Game 2.

Sabathia is 5-1 with a 1.60 ERA in his last eight starts. The 36-year-old lefty walked five during his 97-pitch outing but allowed just two hits and struck out three.

“I was tired, but I told Joe I could give him one more (inning),” Sabathia said.

Girardi went to Tyler Clippard, Chad Green and Aroldis Chapman to close out the final three frames.

The manager basically had none of his relievers available in Game 2, so Tanaka stepped up.

The 28-year-old righty was the team’s biggest disappointment in the first half of the year, but he started the second half on a strong note. Tanaka made just one mistake, hanging a slider in the third that Mookie Betts hit 410 feet above the Green Monster for a two-out, tworun homer.

“It was supposed to be outside and low,” Tanaka said. “There wasn’t any bite on it. Overall, I felt like I did pretty well. The stuff was there. It’s just that slider I’d like to have back.” Tanaka (7-9, 5.33 ERA) knows the team needs more from him. His pitches showed better movement on Sunday.

“I need to give more length,” he said. “I haven’t been doing a really good job of that up to this point.”

Seven Yankee relievers had combined to pitch nine scoreless innings in Saturday’s 16-inning marathon victory.

“Our bullpen did a tremendous job this series,” Girardi said.

At one point, the Yankees held the Red Sox without a run for 24 consecutive innings.

“We’re going in the right direction,” Girardi said. “And I think part of that was getting our bullpen back on track.”