MLB: Tanaka Dominates in First Start Off DL

 

 
Masahiro Tanaka returned to the mound on Wednesday afternoon in his first start since coming off the DL with a strained right forearm. Looking like his old self, Tanaka went seven innings strong by striking out nine batters and only allowing three hits. He was on a 80 pitch count limit and was very efficient only throwing 78 pitches, which, 58 of them were for strikes. 
His variety of pitches were sharp and he had batters swinging at his devastating splitter in the dirt. Yankees head coach Joe Girardi mentioned that his velocity was the best he’s seen from him all year. The fastball topped 95 mph a few times which is by far the highest its reached all season. 

A couple of Yankees’ helped Tanaka out as well with a pair of homeruns. Mark Teixeira homered in the second inning for his 16th dinger of the year, while Garrett Jones hit his 3rd HR of the year with a two-run shot in the fourth. Both homers ended up coming off Mariners starter Taijuan Walker.

Tanaka improved to 3-1 with a 2.76 ERA on the season, while The Yankees improve to 29-25 and currently are on top of the AL East.