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Yankees vs Orioles (4/9/14)

(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)
(Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Tanakamania takes over the Bronx! Masahiro Tanaka (1-0, 2.57 ERA) makes his first start at home after an impressive start to his MLB career in Toronto. He will be up against Miguel Gonzalez (0-1, 18.90 ERA) in the rubber match against the Os. Tanaka’s Major League debut was a success, the 25 year old earned a victory over the Blue Jays with seven innings of three run (2 earned) ball. He settled down after a leadoff homer to strike out eight and walk none.

When it comes to pitching under the bright lights of New York, Tanaka already feels at home. “If you listen to the crowd, yes, of course it makes me feel at home,” Tanaka said through his interpreter. “I got to see a glimpse of it when we came here for the big press conference back in February, but I was able to take a more thorough look at it yesterday, and I think this is a very nice facility.”

In a loss to Detroit on Friday, Gonzalez tied a career high seven earned runs and was uncharacteristically wild hitting two batters and throwing a wild pitch. “It is early in the season . You have to get that first week out of the way,” Gonzalez said. “A lot of guys struggle to move on. But you’ve got to have a short memory in this game, and just keep working. We all know that we have the talent and we are capable of doing better.”

He is 2-2 with a 4.01 ERA against the Yankees in his career, including a 4.25 ERA in five games in the Bronx. He has a good track record pitching at Yankee Stadium except for August 30 last season, when allowed seven earned runs in just four innings. “I like pitching here,” Gonzalez said. “They have a lot of lefties. And my split works off of that. I think the confidence also, you have that confidence when you know you pitch well against a team you face a lot. That helps.”

The Yankees recalled lefty Cesar Cabral from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill David Robertson‘s roster spot. He recorded one out in relief of Ivan Nova on Tuesday.

 

Notes on the game

Yangervis Solarte is the first live ball era player with at least six doubles in his first seven career games.

With his homer on Tuesday, Alfonso Soriano is now tied with Duke Snider for 50th place on the all time list with 407.

Jacoby Ellsbury is on a five game hitting streak.

 

First pitch at 7:05 PM on YES