BALTIMORE — If there was a perfect time for Masahiro Tanaka to show he can return to being the dominant pitcher he used to be, Monday night was it.
Tanaka started against the woeful Orioles at Camden Yards with the Yankees riding a five-game winning streak and looking to open a long stretch of games against the AL East bottom-feeding Orioles and Blue Jays.
And he pitched on a night the Yankees slugged five homers that helped stretch the winning streak to six with a 9-6 victory that was witnessed by a very pro-Yankees crowd of 20,151.