New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka has been on the disabled list since July 8 with a partially torn UCL. After months of rehab, the right-hander returned to the mound today and led the Yankees to a victory over the Blue Jays.
Tanaka threw 70 pitches over 5 1/3 innings to improve to 13-4 on the season. He gave up only five hits and one earned run while striking out four batters before handing the ball over to the bullpen. A combination of Adam Warren, Dellin Betances and David Roberston finished off Toronto and closed out New York's 5-2 victory.
Things looked a bit shaky for Tanaka in the first inning when he gave up a leadoff single to Jose Reyes and then another to Jose Bautista, which advanced Reyes to third base. Edwin Encarnacion then grounded into a double play, scoring Reyes, but then Dionor Navarro struck out swinging to end the inning. The Yankees responded in the bottom of the first with a home run from catcher Brian McCann and didn't look back.
Tanaka was nearly flawless for the remainder of his time on the mound, giving up just three hits in 4 1/3 innings. Brett Gardner homered in the fifth inning followed by an RBI double from Derek Jeter in the seventh. McCann delivered again right after Jeter's double and smacked a two-run home run to put the game out of reach for Toronto. Encarnacion tried to get them back into it in the eighth inning when he hit an RBI single off of Dellin Betances, which was only the reliever's 14th earned run of the year, but David Roberston shut the door in the ninth inning for his 38th save of the season.
The Yankees remain 4.5 games out of the final wild card spot with just seven games remaining, but they received good news today regarding Tanaka's health. The organization's goal was to have him pitch before the year ended to see if his elbow was healthy enough to continue pitching into the 2015 season, and they saw great results after today's win. Tanaka will likely throw one more contest before the season ends, as the Yankees have a four-game series against the Baltimore Orioles and a three-game series against the Boston Red Sox to close out the year.
Derek Jeter went 2-for-4 with an RBI in the winning effort and has just one series remaining at Yankee Stadium before his career ends. He will close out his tenure with the Yankees with a trip to Fenway Park from September 26-28.
