CLEVELAND — One by one the Yankees walked into the clubhouse Wednesday at Progressive Field and heard the news Masahiro Tanaka was back in New York, getting an MRI exam on his aching right elbow.
A room that is usually filled with chatter and laughter was unusually silent.
To a man, the Yankees know what Tanaka means to their season and no one explained it better than first baseman Mark Teixeira.
“He’s saved our season, that’s the way I look at,’’ Teixeira told The Post before he launched two home runs in the Yankees’ 5-4, 14-inning win over the Indians. “When you start the season and you lose three out of five starters that were going to be all good pitchers, you have to have someone step up. You have to have multiple guys step up.
“Tanaka was the biggest reason we are still in the race.’’
There is no race without an ace.
Tanaka is the ace, the one who gives backbone to the Yankees pitching staff. The one who has saved the season and has saved the bullpen.
Take away Tanaka’s 12-4 record and the intangibles that he brings, and the Yankees are nowhere.
“He gives us a chance to win even when he is not at his best,’’ Teixeira said. “That’s a true ace. When he is dominant, forget about it.’’
Most of the Yankees did not know about Tanaka going back to New York — first reported by The Post’s George A. King III — until they were told by reporters.
A concerned Brett Gardner said: “We just hope and pray that we get good news, that it is something minor. You would worry about anybody, but he is pretty special. I don’t know how long it has been bothering him, but he obviously wasn’t himself [Tuesday] night.’’
The Yankees went into Wednesday’s game in third place in the AL East, four games back of the Orioles. In the wild-card race they were in fifth place. If the playoffs started today, the Yankees would be on the outside looking in, talking about 2015.
Manager Joe Girardi said the Yankees are not going to feel sorry for themselves, but Girardi always says that with every injury that comes down the road. That is the nature of ballplayers. But at some point reality sets in and without Tanaka, the Yankees know they have no chance.
“This is a tough one,’’ said Chase Whitley, who figures to step into Tanaka’s spot in the rotation.
Lose your ace and the world changes overnight. The Yankees have not announced the findings of the MRI exam because the team doctor was at a convention in Seattle.
That made the day much more difficult for the players because there were no concrete answers. Players deal in reality, nothing else.
“It goes without saying how important he has been,” Derek Jeter said of Tanaka. “He’s been as good as anyone probably in our league that we’ve seen. He’s been our go-to guy.’’
If the injury requires Tommy John surgery, the Yankees will be hard-pressed to compete. At least the Mets had a number of young pitchers to fall back on when Matt Harvey went down, but still they are seven games under .500.
Tanaka is a pitcher, like Harvey, who commands respect on the mound. He lost 5-3 Tuesday to Cleveland, giving up late home runs to Nick Swisher and Michael Brantley. Going back to the Mike Napoli “idiot” home run, Tanaka has surrendered 20 hits and 10 runs over his last 13²/₃ innings.
Something, clearly is wrong.
“The thing I like best about Tanaka is that he competes,’’ Teixeira said. “I’ve never seen him give up a hitter, give up an outing. We’ve seen a couple outings where he has given up a home run early, and locked it down the rest of the way and that just shows maturity, it shows the confidence in his stuff. A lot of guys after giving up a home run in the game early would just completely abandon their game plan and he doesn’t do that.
“He’s been an animal.’’
No animal, no chance.