Tanaka’s struggles continue in Yankees’ third straight loss

ST. PETERSBURG – It’s official: something is wrong with Masahiro Tanaka. For the second straight start, the Yankees so-called “ace” was rocked in only three innings of action. With that, the Yankees fell to the Rays, 9-5. Whether it is Gary Sanchez catching Tanaka or an actual issue with his arm, hitters are keying in on his pitches. In Tanaka’s last two starts, he has combined to give up 14 earned runs in less than five innings of work – amounting to a 6.56 ERA on the season.

Masahiro Tanaka:

with Gary Sanchez (5 Gms): 12.57 ERA, 2.64 WHIP, 10 HR with Austin Romine (4 Gms): 2.51 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 3 HR — Kenny Ducey (@KennyDucey) May 20, 2017

Corey Dickerson seemed to give Tanaka the most difficulties at the plate, as he hit two home runs off of him. Dickerson finished 2-for-3 on the night with three runs scored and four runs batted in. Yankees’ sluggers Gary Sanchez and Aaron Judge provided a home run each and did most of the damage offensively for their team. Sanchez finished 2-for-4 on the night while Aaron Judge managed a 2-for-3 performance himself. Despite the long ball effort, the Yankees were unable to capitalize when they had runners in scoring position. The team finished 1-for-7 on the night with runners in scoring position, and fell to the Rays because of that. A frustrating night turned into an even bigger debacle when Joe Girardi was ejected from the game for arguing balls and strikes.

Joe Girardi was ejected tonight, and put on a show afterward. The video: https://t.co/RYOnTkmbz4 — Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) May 20, 2017

The Yankees offense is incredibly talented, but when your starting pitcher gives up six earned runs early on in a ball game, it is, oftentimes, hard to overcome such a deficit. With the loss, the Bronx Bombers now sit at 24-16 on the year and are 3-7 in their last 10 games. With Baltimore beating Toronto Saturday night, the Yanks now sit a half game out of first place in the division. Win- Matt Andriese Loss- Masahiro Tanaka Notes: • Evan Longoria hit another home run against the Yankees on Saturday and he seems unstoppable. • Masahiro Tanaka needs to figure out his stuff or the Yankees are in big trouble.