Tanaka aiming to hush fans in Boston tonight

BOSTON — Masahiro Tanaka is coming off his two best starts of the season and the Yankees could use another good outing from the right-hander Sunday night against the Red Sox with their rotation somewhat beaten up. Tanaka said the state of the pitching staff would be on his mind.

“Nothing changes with what I do on the mound,” Tanaka sai d Saturday through an interpreter. “You go out there and maybe there is a sense of wanting to be the stopper or being able to lift the team. There might be some of that.”

Tanaka said despite the numbers, there was little in common in the pair of recent outings, when he combined to throw 15 shutout innings in wins over Tampa Bay (a complete game shutout) and Baltimore ( six scoreless innings).

“I was a lot different those two days,’’ he said. “The nine-inning game, I felt really good and I felt in control of everything. The second game, I struggled in the beginning and I had to find it and make adjustments t hroughout t he course of the game. I’m just trying to be unpredictable to the batters.”

Tanaka needed 31 pitches to get through the first inning against the Orioles. Before going out for the second, he watched video of himself to see why he wasn’t sharp.

“I don’t do that often,’’ Tanaka said. “When I feel something is really off, I check to see what it is. You can have an idea of what’s wrong, but if you look at the mechanics and how the ball is moving, you can confirm what you’re doing wrong.

“It ’ s not an instant change, but you’re more aware of what you need to do and it turned out the right way for me.”

He’ll face a tougher test Sunday against the Red Sox, who have a much better lineup than either of those previous opponents. Still, he’s looking forward to the challenge.

“I feel like when you’re here [at Fenway], you’re absolutely away f rom home,’’ Tanaka said. “If you are able to silence the crowd, you feel really good.”