Bats back Tanaka’s 150th career victory

It seemed like things couldn’t possibly get easier than a 1-2-3 first inning for Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka against the Orioles on Thursday night.

But it did. A six-run detonation will do that.

“It does make things easier but if you look at the previous game, the offense gave me a couple of runs but I let those runs go so those things do happen,” said Tanaka, who watched the Yankees demolish Orioles starter Wade Miley for six runs before a second out was recorded in the bottom of the first inning of the 13-5 victory at Yankee Stadium. “Regardless of how many runs the offense gets for you, you just try to go out there and focus pitch by pitch and do what you need to do.”

Basically, all Tanaka had to do was breathe and reach the plate. A 13-run night will do that, too. In all, the Yankees smashed four homers, three coming with two men on and two of those by Aaron Judge.

Tanaka (12-11) pitched seven innings and righted himself after his four-inning, eight-hit, seven-run clunker at Texas last Friday. Tanaka regained the stuff that allowed him to go seven innings in each of his three starts prior to the drubbing by the Rangers. This time, he gave up eight hits, two earned runs, walked two and struck out eight. The homerun ball, though, continued to haunt Tanaka as the biggest blemishes were solo shots by Jonathan Schoop and Trey Mancini, the 31st and 32nd homers he has allowed this season.

“It seemed like his split and slider were more consistent,” manager Joe Girardi said. “He gave up some ground ball hits in Texas. Sometimes those are hit at people and sometimes they’re not. And when they’re not it seemed to snowball on him a little bit.”

The victory was the 150th of Tanaka’s pro career: 51 with the Yankees, 99 in Japan.

“That’s a lot of wins. It’s an incredible achievement because he’s not very old,” Girardi said of Tanaka, who turns 29 in November.

“Never in my wildest dreams I’d thought I’d make it to 150 wins,” Tanaka said. “I really want to thank the people who have supported me throughout the years to get me to this point.”