When Masahiro Tanaka faced the Angels in Anaheim last month, he took the mound in the first inning with a 5-0 lead. The Yankees scored five more runs in the second, cruising to the blowout win. Tanaka hurled six innings of two-hit, one-run ball in his most dominant outing of the year. Today’s game was a lot tighter, but the result was the same.
Tanaka carried a two-hit shutout into the sixth inning. The Angels hitters made him work, though, taking him into deep counts throughout the day. Tanaka didn’t break, though. He really had his splitter working.