Tanaka effort can’t be ignored
Tanaka left to a standing ovation after Twins center fielder Ryan LaMarre drew a two-out walk in the seventh. Tanaka’s 91st and final pitch, a 94 mph fastball, looked like a strike, but umpire Sam Holbrooke thought otherwise and LaMarre trotted to first, drawing boos. Chad Green relieved and finished the seventh. David Hale pitched the remainder of the game.
The offense was more than enough to help Tanaka (3-2) earn his third win, and the right-hander showed the command of his fastball Boone alluded to earlier. But Tanaka was using his splitter with deadly precision much of the evening. He whiffed five, walked two and plunked one batter (LaMarre in the fifth), but rarely got into trouble.
The 29-year-old Tanaka retired the side in the fourth on two strikeouts and a popup. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario both swung for strike three on 86 mph splitters. The Twins scored their only run off Tanaka in the fifth, when Dozier slapped an RBI single to left, scoring LaMarre.
Boone said before the game that he was “confident” about his pitching rotation at this juncture in the season, even lending support to struggling Sonny Gray. And while Gray is an integral pitching cog, Tanaka’s importance cannot be understated, especially as the Bombers try to keep pace with the division-leading Red Sox.
The Tanaka every Yankee fan wants to see in 2018 made a convincing argument Monday that he has arrived.
“He used all his pitches,” Boone said. “Stayed away from the slug for the most part with the fastball. Used the fastball enough to really set up his other pitches. The split, the breaking ball I thought were both real good, but he sprinkled in the fastball enough to really make those pitches effective.”