New York Yankees 1 — Chicago Cubs 6
It took 43 starts on two sides of the world, but Masahiro Tanaka experienced his first regular season loss in almost two years.
Brett Gardner would reach third base in the first inning against Jason Hammel but was unable to score. That is not how you want to start a game. The game would be scoreless until the third inning, coincidentally, when it started to rain.
Catcher John Baker led off the third inning with a single to right field. The pitcher would advance Baker with a sacrifice bunt before a wild pitch allowed Baker to advance to third. Emilio Bonifacio would hit a single through the drawn in infield and the Cubs scored first. In the fourth inning, the Cubs started with a double by Luis Valbuena. He would eventually score on a single by Mike Olt to put the Cubs ahead by two.
With runners on second and third with one out, the Cubs had a huge opportunity to pad their lead.
Pitcher Jason Hammel would put down a bunt and Tanaka would get the out at home on a fielder’s choice. That’s reasonable, it was the pitcher. But Emilio Bonifacio would drop down a bunt too! The runner on third would attempt to score in recent deja vu, only to be thrown out at home on another fielder’s choice to end the inning when they could have scored more.
The Yankees would score in the sixth inning when Brett Gardner started with a double. He would score three batters later when Mark Teixeira hits a single to center field but that would be all they could get off of Hammel. Over 5.2 innings, Hammel allowed one run on four hits while walking one and striking out six.
The Cubs would open the sixth inning with a pair of singles. They would bring home a pair of runs on a pair of sacrifice flies as they made productive outs to put the Yankees behind by three.
Over six innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits while walking one and striking out seven. He did not have his best stuff in the most ideal conditions. The Cubs are also the first team in the MLB to see Tanaka a second time.
This was Masahiro Tanaka’s first regular season loss since August 19, 2012.
Win – Jason Hammel (5-2)
Loss – Masahiro Tanaka (6-1)
Notables
Yankees
*Brett Gardner – 2 for 4, R, 2B
*Mark Teixeira – 1 for 2, BB, RBI (23)
Cubs
*John Baker – 2 for 3, R, 2B, RBI (1)
*Mike Olt – 1 for 2, BB, 3 RBI (23)
Current Yankees Record: 23-21
