Masahiro Tanaka emerged from the back of the clubhouse at Yankee Stadium on Friday with ice packs wrapped tightly around his right shoulder, elbow and thigh. Earlier in the afternoon, Tanaka threw off a mound for the first time since straining a hamstring against the Mets, a noteworthy milepost in the high-pressure stretch run of September.
Tanaka said through an interpreter that his 31-pitch bullpen session had gone well, that he had thrown his normal 31 pitches “with force.” But he also delivered a revelation that justifiably raised some eyebrows.
“It’s not completely gone,” Tanaka said. “It’s been probably seven days or so.