Yankees Game 21: Bats not enough to support strong Tanaka

Despite strong effort, one bad pitch by Masahiro Tanaka and Dellin Betances spelled doom for the Yankees tonight.

New York Yankees 2 – Boston Red Sox 4

The Yankees made their way to Boston for a three-game series and it had an inauspicious ending.

A common theme for the game, and the season, is futility when opportunity presents itself. In the first inning, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a walk against Henry Owens. Brett Gardner reached on a drag bunt single and just when it all was going well for the Yankees, Carlos Beltran grounded into a double play to end the rally and a fly out by Mark Teixeira ended the inning just like that.

Masahiro Tanaka looked to hold down the Red Sox and he worked around a Chase Headley error to pitch a scoreless first inning. The Yankees needed to get on the board to give Tanaka support and that happened in the second inning.

Leading off the second inning, Alex Rodriguez went deep against Henry Owens, his fourth home run of the year, to give Tanaka the lead.

After the first out was recorded, Starlin Castro drilled a line drive into center field where Jackie Bradley defends but the ball got by him and went all the way to the wall. Castro made his way to third for a one-out triple. In a prime scoring opportunity, Chase Headley hit a soft broken bat fly out to left field where Brock Holt defended. Surprisingly, Castro attempted to score on the fly out and was easily thrown out at home for the final out of the inning.

In the third inning, the Yankees ran into an inning ending double play on a strikeout with a caught stealing. After a scoreless fourth inning, the Yankees managed to get on the board one more time. After another double play, Didi Gregorius was hit by a pitch. Jacoby Ellsbury got on base with a single and Brett Gardner brought home Gregorius with a run-scoring single.

While the Yankees bats showed very brief glimpses of success, Masahiro Tanaka was brilliant. In the fourth inning, the Red Sox got their second hit of the game with an infield single to the left by David Ortiz, defying the shift. Tanaka retired seven in a row after that before Xander Bogaerts reached on a single but Tanaka finished the inning. Tanaka returned for the seventh inning and got the first out before Travis Shaw and Brock Holt hit a pair of singles. On pitch 99 for Tanaka, Jackie Bradley laced a fly ball off the monster in left for a game-tying, two-run double.

In 6 2/3 innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs on six hits without a walk and five strikeouts. There is a strong case to say Tanaka stayed in one batter too many.

Dellin Betances got the last out of the seventh inning but the Red Sox rallied against the big righty in the eighth inning. After getting the first out, Xander Bogaerts reached on a strange single, deflected off the hand of Starlin Castro to put one on base. On a hanging breaking ball away from Ortiz, the Red Sox designated hitter put one just over the monster for a go-ahead two-run home run, giving the Fenway crowd life late in tonight's game.

Following the fifth inning run-scoring single by Brett Gardner, the final 13 Yankees to come the plate were set down in order for a difficult defeat.

Win – Koji Uehara (1-1)

Loss – Dellin Betances (0-2)

Save – Craig Kimbrel (7)

Notables

Yankees

*Alex Rodriguez – 1 for 4, R, Solo home run (4) in the 2nd, RBI (8)

*Brett Gardner – 2 for 4, RBI (5)

Red Sox

*David Ortiz – 2 for 4, R, Two-run home run (4) in the 8th, 2 RBI (18)

*Jackie Bradley – 1 for 3, 2B, 2 RBI (10)

Current Yankees Record: 8-13