Yankees game 85: Tanaka dominates the A's
Masahiro Tanaka goes a season-high 7.2 innings in today's win over the A's.
Oakland Athletics 2 – New York Yankees 6 With the three-game series tied at one each, today's day game decides the series. All-Star candidate Brett Gardner got the offense started against A's starter Jesse Chavez in the first inning. On the first pitch Gardner saw from Chavez, the Yankees left fielder deposited it into the right field seats for his 10th home run of the season, a solo blast that put them ahead by one.
After receiving the lead, Masahiro Tanaka looked to have a shut down inning but struggled in the second. Brian McCann committed catcher's interference to start the top of the second, putting Josh Reddick on base. Billy Butler quickly tied the game with a double to left field. After a walk of Ike Davis, Brett Lawrie grounded into a double play. With two outs, Mark Canha hit a double to deep right center field, scoring Butler and giving the A's the lead. While the inning required over 20 pitches out of Masahiro Tanaka, the deficit was just one. The Yankees All-Star first baseman did not let that stand. In the third inning, Jacoby Ellsbury led off with a walk. Brett Gardner hit a single to right field that put runners on the corners. Mark Teixeira followed with a single of his own, scoring the tying run. The Yankees rally and Tanaka settled down after the rough second inning. Following the run-scoring double by Canha in the second inning, Masahiro Tanaka went on to keep 18 of the next 19 batters off the bases with the lone baserunner reaching on a strikeout with a wild pitch. In the fourth inning, Stephen Drew drew a one-out walk and recent call-up Cole Figueroa hit a double just over first base, and off umpire John Tumpane, to put runners in scoring position with one out.
Jacoby Ellsbury followed suit, hitting a single down the right field line, again over the base, allowing two runs to score and to get the lead. Prior to the top of the fifth inning starting, the Yankees left fielder Brett Gardner (and the Yankee Stadium crowd) received some breaking news.
GARDY IS AN ALL-STAR!!!!!! #Yankees #PinstripePride pic.twitter.com/GZtZam4ZVj
— Bronx Pinstripes (@BronxPinstripes) July 9, 2015
Masahiro Tanaka exited after getting two outs in the eighth inning. In a season-high 7 2/3 innings, Masahiro Tanaka allowed two runs, one unearned, on two hits and one walk. He struck out six and threw 114 pitches.
With the good news in mind, the Yankees scored two more runs, this time unearned, on the error by Marcus Semien in the eighth inning, providing insurance runs for the bullpen to work with. Chasen Shreve finished off the eighth inning and got two outs in the ninth before Josh Reddick hit a single. Adam Warren came in and needed three pitches to get Billy Butler out on strikes, ending the game and taking the three-game series with Oakland. Win – Masahiro Tanaka (5-3) Loss – Jesse Chavez (4-9) Notables Athletics *Billy Butler – 1 for 4, R, 2B, RBI (38) *Mark Canha – 1 for 3, 2B, RBI (33) Yankees *Brett Gardner – 3 for 5, R, Solo home run (10) in the 1st, RBI (40) *Cole Figueroa – 2 for 4, 2 R, 2 2B Current Yankees Record: 46-39