Masahiro Tanaka’s up-and-down season continued Wednesday evening and came very close to costing the Yankees a win they had to have.
The stars seemingly were in place for a Yankees victory. Tanaka had dominated the Blue Jays in a dozen career starts and had pitched well recently. Then there was the very hittable Nick Tepesch on the mound for the hosts.
The Yankees eventually posted an 11-5 victory in front of 39,554 at Rogers Centre, but Tanaka had very little to do with it except raise the stress level for a team that is in danger of losing touch with the AL East-leading Red Sox.
Luis Severino has grabbed the title of staff ace, but if the Yankees are to play a postseason series for the first time since 2012, they are going to need a whole lot better from their former No. 1 starter than Tanaka delivered Wednesday.
Working with a 6-2 lead entering the fifth, Tanaka gave up a homer to Jose Bautista and walked Josh Donaldson to start the inning and was replaced by Chad Green.
In four-plus innings, Tanaka gave up [url=http://www.dolphinsshopnfl.com/Authentic-Andrew-Franks-Jersey]http://www.do... three runs (two earned), two hits and walked a season-high five.
Thanks to a two-run eighth against Taylor Cole in his major league debut that was highlighted by Todd Frazier and Garrett Cooper each bagging their third hits of the game and Ronald Torreyes’ two-run single, Dellin Betances had an 8-5 lead to work the eighth with.
The Yankees added three runs in the ninth off Cole. Cooper drove in two with a single up the middle and finished 4-for-5.
Every Yankee starter had at least one hit except for Aaron Judge, who went 0-for-4 with a walk.
The victoy kept the Yankees four lengths back of the blistering Red Sox, who have won [url=http://www.authenticsanjosesharks.com/authentic-david-schlemko-jersey]David Schlemko Authentic Jersey eight straight and open a three-game series in The Bronx on Friday night.
Gary Sanchez and Frazier hit back-to-back homers in the second and Didi Gregorius homered in the third off Tepesch.
After taking over for Tanaka with two runners on and nobody out in the fifth inning and striking out three straight, Green gave up a leadoff single to Norichika Aoki to start the sixth and a one-out RBI double to Ryan Goins, the No. 8 hitter.
Manager Joe Girardi called for Tommy Kahnle to face Raffy Lopez, who represented the tying run. Kahnle’s wild pitch that Sanchez had no chance of blocking moved Goins to third. With the infield back, Lopez walked to bring Bautista to the plate.
He fouled out in front of Donaldson’s RBI single that cut the Yankees’ lead to 6-5. Justin Smoak followed with a strikeout to kill the inning.
Having beaten the Blue Jays twice this season and possessing an 8-3 record and a 2.52 ERA in a dozen career starts vs. Toronto, there was nothing in Tanaka’s past experiences against the Jays that [url=http://www.authenticsanjosesharks.com/authentic-joe-pavelski-jersey]http://... indicated he was in for a rough evening. Plus, in his last four starts Tanaka’s ERA was a tidy 2.93.
Armed with a 6-2 lead entering the home fifth Tanaka didn’t make it out of the inning and didn’t qualify for a victory. He gave up a homer to Bautista starting the inning and walked Donaldson before Girardi called for Green to face Smoak.
Green struck out Smoak, Steve Pearce and Kevin Pillar with fastballs that were clocked at 95-mph each.
Judge’s one-out walk in the fifth started a three-run rally and broke [img]http://www.texansonlineofficialstore.com/images/products/nike_nfl_jerseys/n... the Yankees’ season record for free passes by a rookie at 82. The record stood since Charlie Keller drew 81 walks in 1939.