Tanaka gets lift from bats, finally

This time, it was the Yankee offense’s turn to bail out Masahiro Tanaka.

After letting him down so often this year — Tanaka entered Tuesday having received three consecutive nodecisions despite stellar performances and just one victory — the Bombers finally lived up to their nickname, bailing out the right-hander in a wild 10-7 victory over the Royals at the Stadium.

“It was good that we got the win, but I have to go out there and do my job, and I think I wasn’t able to do that well tonight,” Tanaka, whose ERA rose from 2.29 to 3.11, said through an interpreter. “It made it a closer game [than] it should’ve been.”

It was a lackluster effort from Tanaka, who didn’t have his slider, and left his other pitches up in the zone all evening. It was just his second start allowing six earned runs since signing in 2014 and by far Tanaka’s worst performance of the season, his first start allow- ing more than two earned runs. He entered having allowed just two home runs in 40 innings, yet gave up three in the span of four innings.

“He only made a few mistakes, but they had some timely hits for sure,” catcher Brian McCann said. “He didn’t pitch as bad as his line.”

Tanaka did pitch seven innings, which equaled his second-longest outing this season, retiring the final eight batters he faced. He struck out four and walked nobody, but the three long balls were regrettable, considering the Yankees staked him to a pair of leads, 1-0 and 5-3.

In his previous three starts, Tanaka held right-handed batters to four hits in 40 atbats, but he couldn’t repeat that dominance. Five of the hits he gave up were to righties, and all three home runs, two to Lorenzo Cain and one to Cheslor Cuthbert.

Tanaka responded after Cain’s second homer, not giving the Royals anything more. And, for once, the Yankees lineup had his back.