Tanaka takes small step in right direction, but still a long way from 2014 dominance

The night belonged to Alex Rodriguez, unquestionably the Yankees’ most dangerous hitter these days, and an offense that finally awakened, preventing a Red Sox sweep that might have led to full-blown panic in the Bron x.

Yet for big-picture significance, all eyes again were on Masahiro Tanaka.

Oh, the Yankees’ brass will hold its nose and gladly accept this surprising post-suspension return to form from A-Rod, whose three-run double in the first inning opened the door to a 14-4 victory.

But chances are the Yankees are only going as far as their pitching takes them this sea- son, starting with Tanaka.

The verdict on his second start of the season: he pitched better than he did on Opening Day, no doubt to great sighs of relief in the home dugout, but he was still a long way from the dominance he displayed so regularly in 2014.

The Yankees scored seven runs in the first inning, freeing up Tanaka to pitch more aggressively, yet he still needed 97 pitches to get through five innings, as he allowed three walks and four hits, and that was it for him because Joe Girardi doesn’t want to push him early in the season.

He gave up four runs, three earned in those five innings, lowering his ERA from 9.00 to 7.00, but it can’t be overlooked that he was pitching against what should be one of the toughest-hitting lineups in the American League.

Perhaps most importantly, Tanaka showed the toughness to escape trouble that became such a trademark last season.

In the fourth inning the Sox had cut the lead to 7-3 and had runners at second and third with one out. By then he’d thrown 30 pitches in the inning and Sox hitters weren’t chasing his splitter; they’d swung and missed only three times all night against him.

Yet when he needed strikeouts he dug deep and got Ryan Hanigan and Mookie Betts both swinging at sharp-breaking sliders.

“I was looking for the strikeout,’’ Tanaka said afterward.

It was a good sign for the Yankees but there was still some question of what to make of it all, especially after all the debate about whether he can pitch confidently with the ligament tear in his elbow.

Tanaka threw more fastballs than he did on Monday, and Joe

Girardi took that as an important step forward for a pitcher he believes is still rounding into for m.

“I thought he was better with the fastball but didn’t throw as many strikes with the off-speed stuff,’’ Girardi said. “The next step is to put those things together and we’ll have Tanaka.’’

As in the 2014 pre-elbow injury Tanaka.

It sounds good but is it really that simple? A scout at the game had a bit of a different take.

He agreed with Girardi that Tanaka’s two-seam fastball location was better, but thought the key to his night was “an outstanding slider’’ that produced the two fourth-inning strikeouts.

The same scout thought Tanaka was still tentative with his fastball, especially considering the big lead, and thought the Sox weren’t chasing his splitter because “everything he was throwing was down in the zone.’’

On the ESPN telecast, Curt Schilling made basically the same point, saying he thought Tanaka needed to throw his four-seamer up in the strike zone to change hitters’ eye levels, as he seemed to do more often last season, to make his splitter more effective.

All in all, Tanaka got four strikeouts, all on sliders and splitters, but got only six swingsand-misses on his 97 pitches.

Schilling said he saw a different arm angle on Tanaka’s fastball than he did on his off-speed stuff, and wondered if that too could have been a factor in the Red Sox hitters laying off Tanaka’s splitter.

Tanaka himself said it was simpler than all of that.

“My splitter wasn’t sharp tonight,’’ he said through his interpreter. “I couldn’t get them to swing at it.’’

On the other hand, Schilling, who has been vocal in saying he doesn’t think Tanaka will make it through the season with the ligament tear, said he saw signs of progress Sunday night. He noted that Tanaka was brought along slowly in spring training and might still be building arm strength.

The bottom line, then, was that this was improvement for Tanaka, but there’s no telling if he’ll regain the dominance this team needs from him this season.

Still, this was a night for the Yankees to simply enjoy a muchneeded victory and hope it will allow them to relax, stop making errors and begin scoring runs on a regular basis. You know how critical the win was to Yankees’ collective psyche when the understated Girardi said, “I thought it was important for our guys.’’

How important? In the long run that depends mostly on Tanaka.