Tanaka saves the day with gem

With the season riding on every pitch, it seemed, in a tense, taut pitchers’ duel with a Stadium full of hyper-nervous fans emoting on every swing, Masahiro Tanaka pitched the game the Yankees envisioned when they outbid every team in the big leagues to bring him over from Japan.

Was this start alone worth the $175 million it cost them, including the $20 million posting fee?

If the Yankees go on to win this series, which is still a longshot, Hal Steinbrenner might just say yes.

For Joe Girardi, it’s already a priceless performance.

After all, on a night when the manager was booed soundly during introductions, Tanaka saved the season, and, who knows, perhaps extended Girardi’s Yankee tenure, by delivering the 1-0 win over the Indians to avoid the sweep in this ALDS.

“I know he had 15 strikeouts the other day,’’ Girardi said of Tanaka’s final regular-season start, “but for me this is his best performance I’ve seen from him the whole time he’s been here.”

Considering the stakes, who could argue? After an up-and-down season that confirmed the general sense Tanaka hasn’t been worth the huge contract, this was a night when he lived up to the reputation he established in Japan as the biggest of big-game pitchers. And he knew it. “I came here to pitch in these types of games,’’ he said through his interpreter, “and be able to help the team win them.”

This on a night when the pressure was huge, obviously, with the Yankees down 2-0 in the series, but all the more so after everything that happened in Game 2, with Girardi under fire for making the now-famous decision not to challenge a bad call.

In fact, Tanaka took at least a little bit of heat off Girardi, validating his decision to give him the Game 3 start, so let’s give the manager his due for that.

I thought Luis Severino was the best way to get the Yankees back into the series. But Tanaka was on his game from the first pitch, racking up seven strikeouts with perhaps the best splitter he has had all season — throwing it at 90 mph, harder than usual, perhaps because he hadn’t pitched in nine days, perhaps because his adrenaline was on overdrive.

The Japanese star was so good that Girardi might have been tempted to push him for another inning, especially after paying a price for pulling CC Sabathia too early in Game 2.

But he decided Tanaka was done after 92 pitches, and when David Robertson issued a one-out walk in the 8th inning, Girardi went to Aroldis Chapman for a five-out save.

Chapman has looked like his old self of late, but it’s well-documented by now that he’s much more comfortable as a one-inning closer, so going to him early was a bit of a gamble, especially after the problems he had earlier in the season.

As it turned out, Chapman was up to the task, so the manager did get at least a bit of redemption on this night.

More importantly, the Yankees are still alive, but Game 4 presents even more high drama with Severino back on the mound for the first time since his wild-card disaster. The 23-year-old admitted after Sunday night’s game that he was way too pumped up with adrenaline in that start last week.

“So tomorrow I just need to calm myself down,’’ he said, “try to breathe and think before every pitch.”

Suffice to say it will be fascinating to see if Severino can control his emotions in another do-or-die game.

As for Tanaka, he raised his status immeasurably with this performance, which raises another intriguing question:

Could one brilliant postseason start dictate his decision on whether to opt out of his contract?

For weeks it has felt like Tanaka would be taking a major gamble by invoking his opt-out clause after such an inconsistent season, considering that he’d have to do better than the three years and $63 million he still has coming from the Yankees.

Meanwhile, indications for months have been the Yankee brass would be happy to let Tanaka walk and be rid of the remainder of that contract.

Does his gem on Sunday night change any of that?

Opting out could still be dicey. In addition to being very inconsistent this season, Tanaka would come with the lingering concern about the partial ligament tear in his elbow.

“You can’t take the elbow issue out of it completely,’’ a rival GM told me recently. “And when you add that in to the way he pitched this season, very up and down, it becomes too much of a risk if you’re talking about $80 to $100 million. I’d be surprised if he opts out.” erhaps his Game 3 gem gives him more leverage, but my guess would be the Yankees wouldn’t stand in his way.

For the moment, they should be glad they don’t have to make that call right now, after a night when he looked to be worth every penny of that contract.

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