Cleveland Indians 2 – New York Yankees 3
In the rubber match with the Central-leading Cleveland Indians, the Yankees turned to Masahiro Tanaka.
After a scoreless first inning by Masahiro Tanaka, the Yankees struck early against Carlos Carrasco in the first inning. Brett Gardner burned the shallow play of center fielder Tyler Naquin when he hit a fly ball over his head for a lead off triple.
Taking advantage of the situation, Jacoby Ellsbury easily scored Gardner with a sacrifice fly to put the Yankees on the board, 1-0. The game remained 1-0 until Didi Gregorius hit a laser into the short porch for a solo home run in the fourth inning. A third run scored in the fifth inning when the Yankees produced a two-out rally. With two outs, Jacoby Ellsbury walked and Mark Teixeira went the other way on a fly ball to left field for a run-scoring double.
Masahiro Tanaka was strong throughout his start. He got into trouble in the third inning with a one-out double by Roberto Perez but a strikeout and a ground out stranded the runner. In the fourth inning, Mike Napoli and Jose Ramirez reached on singles but a strikeout and a fly out prevented the Indians from scoring. The lone run against Tanaka came in the seventh inning.
He gave up a lead off double to Rajai Davis and at 101 pitches, that was his last batter. Adam Warren came on in relief and got the first out of the inning but Roberto Perez hit a single that scored Davis. Warren could not come through with the back half of a double play so Carlos Santana reached on a throwing error. After a walk of Kipnis, Francisco Lindor hit a sharp ground ball down the right field line but Mark Teixeira exhibited his exceptional defense when he made the snag and tag of the base to deny the Indians anymore runs. The Yankees maintained a 3-1 lead.
In six innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed one run on six hits without a walk and eight strikeouts.
In the eighth inning, Tyler Clippard came in for relief and got the first out on a strikeout but the one-out walk to Jose Ramirez proved to be troublesome. On the strikeout of Lonnie Chisenhall, Ramirez stole second base and advanced to third on the throwing error by catcher Austin Romine. With the runner on third, closer Dellin Betances was given the call for the four-out save. After a walk of Rajai Davis, Betances threw a wild pitch that plated Ramirez but a strikeout of Tyler Naquin ended the inning with the 3-2 Yankees lead intact. Betances returned for the ninth inning but has Brett Gardner to thank for a underlying defensive play. Chris Gimenez led off the inning with a fly ball off the left field wall that Gardner played very well as he got it in quickly, holding him to a single. This proved to be huge as Betances generated a ground ball from Carlos Santana that turned into a double play, changing the outlook of the inning dramatically. With a strikeout of Kipnis, the Yankees ended the game and came away with a series win over the Central-leading Cleveland Indians.
Win – Masahiro Tanaka (8-4)
Loss – Carlos Carrasco (7-6)
Save – Dellin Betances (20)
Notables
Indians
*Roberto Perez – 2 for 3, 2B, RBI (4)
*Jose Ramirez – 2 for 3, R, BB
Yankees
*Mark Teixeira – 1 for 4, 2B, RBI (28)
*Didi Gregorius – 1 for 3, R, Solo home run (13) in the 4th, RBI (49)
Current Yankees Record: 56-55
