HIRO’S A ZERO
Tanaka hammered again as Yankees fall to rival Red Sox
It’s not getting better for Masahiro Tanaka, and it’s starting to hurt the Yankees. The supposed ace allowed five runs, including three homers, in five innings in the Bombers’ 5-4 loss to the rival Red Sox on Tuesday night at the Stadium.
As bad as Masahiro Tanaka was again on Tuesday — and he was bad — the Yankees still had a chance to get their series against the Red Sox off to a good start. But time after time, the offense failed to deliver a clutch hit and couldn’t bail out their ace in a 5-4 loss in The Bronx. Tanaka was dreadful once again, giving up five runs in five innings, and the Yankees couldn’t get a hit with a runner in scoring position, as they saw their lead over second-place Boston cut to one game in the AL East. The Yankees got the tying run to second in the eighth, but Chris Carter, who homered in the fifth, struck out to end the threat against Craig Kimbrel, who converted a four-out save. Though if Tanaka doesn’t right himself, it’s hard to imagine a game in June mattering all that much in the standings later in the year. Tanaka gave up another three homers and the lineup went 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position. The Yankees haven’t won consecutive games since May 27-28. With Tanaka seemingly unable to regain decent — let alone dominant — stuff, the Yankees figure to be destined to leave first place behind have an issue. “If your slider is inconsistent and your split is inconsistent … it’s pretty tough to compete,’’ manager Joe Girardi said before the game. “Any starting pitcher, if you take their two best pitches away you’re probably in trouble. Two starts ago he had them, his last start he did not. Hopefully the work in between has helped and he’ll be more consistent.” He was not. Instead, Tuesday marked the sixth time in seven outings Tanaka had given up at least four runs. He has allowed three or more homers in three different games.
Girardi removed him after just 62 pitches and Tanaka ended up allowing more homers (three) than recording strikeouts (two).
Tanaka retired eight in a row prior to the fourth inning, but his outing soon took a turn for the worse.
After Xander Bogaerts walked, Mitch Moreland crushed a two-run shot to right-center that was followed by a Hanley Ramirez homer to left to make it 4-1.
The Yankees attempted to rally in the bottom of the inning, with Aaron Hicks and Didi Gregorius reaching on infield singles.
That brought up Chase Headley, who again ran the count full, but hit a comebacker to Red Sox starter Drew Pomeranz that turned into an inning-ending double play.
Andrew Benintendi’s two-out homer in the fifth made it 5-1.
Carter hit his fifth home run of the year in the bottom of the inning to cut the deficit to 5-2.
The Yankees scored in the fifth on a Gregorius double play to make it 5-3 and Headley flied out to end the threat.
Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge both came to the plate in the seventh representing the tying run against Joe Kelly, but Sanchez grounded out and Judge struck out on a 92-mph slider after a 103mph fastball.
The Yankees finally got to within a run in the eighth, as Chad Green kept them in the game with 3 ¹/3 innings of hitless relief.
Matt Holliday led off with a double and scored on a two-out wild pitch by Kimbrel. Gregorius, who struck out on the pitch reached first. Headley walked and Carter struck out on a 3-2 inside fastball.
Kimbrel then struck out the side in the ninth, facing Brett Gardner, Gary Sanchez and Judge.
It all added up to another loss in the division, as the Yankees fell to 3-5 in this 13-game stretch against division opponents.
Most distressing, though, continues to be the mystifyingly awful performance of Tanaka, who can opt out of his contract after this season, but who otherwise has three years and $67 million coming to him.
“We need him,’’ general manager Brian Cashman said before the game. “[His struggles] are being offset by the performance of [Jordan] Montgomery, [Luis] Severino, [Michael] Pineda and CC [Sabathia] what we’ve been missing from him so hopefully we can get him going again.”