Gutsy effort by Tanaka for nothing
BOSTON — This wasn’t the Masahiro Tanaka of his previous two outings, when he didn’t allow a run over 15 innings.
On Sunday against the Red Sox, Tanaka dealt with a patient lineup, an inconsistent home plate umpire and an offense that waited until he was out of the game to finally show some life, but it still wasn’t enough for a Yankee victory, as Aroldis Chapman blew the game in the ninth and the Red Sox won it in the 10th, 5-4.
Still, after giving up 10 runs in 10 ¹/3 innings in two starts against Boston this season, Tanaka was significantly better as the Yankees salvaged the final game of this four-game series.
Tanaka saw his 21 2/3-inning shutout streak end when he allowed a one-out homer to Mookie Betts in the fifth that gave the Red Sox a 1-0 lead, but he and the bullpen did enough to end a four-game losing streak.
A Yankees offense that went silent against Rick Porcello on Friday and stayed that way with Nathan Eovaldi on the mound Saturday, was quiet versus David Price until the seventh on Sunday.
Price, normally a Yankees punching bag, was actually better than Tanaka for much of his outing. He matched Price through four innings at Fenway Park, but while he didn’t allow a run, he threw 82 pitches in keeping Boston off the scoreboard.
He pitched around a one-out double by Andrew Benintendi in the first by fanning Steve Pearce — who hurt the Yankees throughout the series — and MVP candidate J.D. Martinez.
Tanaka allowed a pair of infield hits in the second, but Xander Bogaerts was caught stealing and Brock Holt lined out to end the inning.
In the third, after consecutive singles by Betts and Benintendi, Tanaka again came back and struck out Pearce and Martinez.
He punctuated the Martinez strikeout by pounding his fist and smiling as he walked off the field.
Even after allowing the homer to Betts, Tanaka seemed poised to finish the inning, but after whiffing Benintendi for the second out, Miguel Andujar ole’d a chopper by Pearce that went for a twobase error.
David Robertson came on and fanned Martinez — his third strikeout in the first five innings — to end the threat, but not before Tanaka glared at home-plate umpire Chris Conroy as he left the field.
And although it was the second time in his past five starts Tanaka wasn’t able to finish the fifth inning, he was far more effective Sunday night than when he got just one out in the fifth against the Orioles in a July 10 loss.
This 97-pitch performance was far from brilliant, but considering how the first three games against the Red Sox went in the series, it was enough.
His stuff was good enough Sunday that he matched a season-high with nine strikeouts, despite not finishing the fifth.
In his past four outings, the right-hander has lowered his ERA from 4.68 to 3.76.
With Luis Severino and CC Sabathia both struggling, J.A. Happ recovering from hand, foot and mouth disease and Lance Lynn about to make his first start for the Yankees since arriving in a trade from Minnesota, the Yankees need all they can get from Tanaka.