Tanaka must be a ’Hiro vs. Jays
The Yankees need Masahiro Tanaka to pitch on Sunday like the stopper he was imported to be. With their dwindling lead in the AL East down to 2.5 games after two consecutive home losses to surging Toronto, Tanaka will oppose righthander Marco Estrada as the Yanks look to avoid the weekend sweep.
“We need him to step up and pitch a good game, give us an opportunity to win,” Joe Girardi said of Tanaka after Saturday’s 6-0 loss to the second-place Blue Jays, who have won 10 of 11 games.
“And we need to swing the bats and see what happens.”
The Yanks have totaled just four runs in their past four games after erupting for 90 in their previous 10. Tanaka (8-4) has won four straight home starts since July 9, going 4-0 with a 3.18 ERA.
NO RELIEF IN SIGHT
Girardi said he debated lifting Ivan Nova before the righty surrendered a grand slam to Justin Smoak to break a scoreless tie in the sixth.
Girardi had Adam Warren warmed and ready, but he allowed that the decision “maybe” was impacted because Justin Wilson, Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller all had appeared in each of the previous two games.
“We were talking about what to do, and if Adam was ready, but Nova was pitching his butt off and it’s a ground-ball guy, so I stuck with him,” Girardi said. “I went with what I had, and it didn’t work, but that’s part of the business.”
IN A PINCH
Girardi also stuck with No. 9 hitter Brendan Ryan with two runners aboard to face ace lefty David Price in a 5-0 game in the seventh, rather than pinch-hitting backup catcher John Ryan Murphy or lefty swingers Brett Gardner, Stephen Drew or Garrett Jones. Ryan popped up to end the inning.
“It’s tough to do that in that situation,” Girardi said. “Ryno’s swung the bat pretty good, especially against lefthanders since he’s been back (from the disabled list). It just kind of leaves me in a tough situation.”
SEE YA
Toronto manager John Gibbons was ejected for the fifth time this season. After Josh Donaldson struck out on a check swing to end the top of the third, Gibbons claimed he came out and asked home-plate umpire Greg Gibson nothing more than “Can I talk to you?” He immediately was tossed for arguing balls and strikes.
MCCANN CAN
Brian McCann has caught the first two games of the series — a day game after a night game — wearing a brace on his left knee with no glaring restrictions after not catching on Wednesday and Thursday. But he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Saturday.
“Obviously, he’s had some days off lately because of it, and he’s pretty fresh. As soon as he came in today, I checked to see if there was any swelling or any residual effect from (Friday) night and there was not,” Girardi said. “I’ll pay attention to it as we go through here.”