The Yankees like their chances on days Masahiro Tanaka pitches and even though he wasn’t at his best in Sunday’s 8-0 loss to the Orioles, their problems ran deeper than that.
“He can’t score the runs for us,” Brett Gardner said. “You want to win games when your ace is pitching and right now he’s pitching like our ace.”
Tanaka wasn’t bad in his first defeat in The Bronx, giving up three runs in seven innings, but he was especially displeased with his last inning.
“I thought I battled pretty well, but at the end, I gave up two more runs, which cost us the game,” Tanaka said through a translator after falling to 11-2.
While the Yankees finished the homestand 4-2, they knew it could have been better — especially after Carlos Beltran’s game-winning homer on Friday night in the series opener.
“It wasn’t the best today,” said Brian McCann, who heard boos following his fourth-inning popup with Jacoby Ellsbury on third. “We got off to a good start with the walk-off homer and the last two days, we just didn’t get it done.”
And it left Joe Girardi lamenting a missed opportunity.
“Big picture, [4-2] is good,” the manager said. “But it’s disappointing because we were 4-0 and had a chance to have a great homestand.”
Tanaka pitched around a pair of singles to start the game and the Yankees had a chance to take the lead in the bottom of the first when Gardner ripped a line drive into the right-field corner.
Gardner made it to third, but overslid the bag with his headfirst dive and Manny Machado kept the tag on him. Gardner was initially ruled safe, but after Baltimore manager Buck Showalter challenged the play, it was overturned and Gardner was called out.
Chris Tillman didn’t give up much else in his seven innings as the Yankees were shut out for the third time this season. The Orioles blew the game open in the later innings — not the expected result when Tanaka pitches.
He surrendered his second home run to Baltimore’s Jonathan Schoop, again leaving a slider up and over the plate to the second baseman.
“He gave us a great opportunity to win, we just didn’t score any runs for him,” Derek Jeter said. “Look, he’s not perfect. There are going to be times when guys score runs off him.”
Like Sunday, when Tanaka lost for the first time since dropping a decision to the Cubs on May 20 in his worst start in the majors, when he gave up four runs over six innings at Wrigley Field.
“I thought our guys did a great job of grinding him, making him earn everything,” Showalter said. “He is some kind of pitcher. We were fortunate today to catch him on a day that he wasn’t as sharp as he normally is.”
Asked after the game if he had watched any of the Old-Timers’ Day ceremony, Tanaka said he did and briefly said hello to Goose Gossage, who received a plaque in Monument Park.
Even with Tanaka’s stunning start to his major league career, it’s a bit premature to wonder what his spot in the team’s history might be. Still, he was asked if he thought he might be back someday for an Old-Timers’ Day.
“I think the important thing is to try to become a player, a very good player so that I would be invited,” Tanaka said.
Even in defeat, he impressed McCann.
“He kind of sets the bar, with the way he competes,” the catcher said. “In the seventh inning he just left a couple of pitches over the plate.”