Masahiro Tanaka had another strong outing Tuesday, reaching an MLB-best 11th win in a 3-1 victory over the Blue Jays.
It wasn’t pretty from the start. Tanaka gave up a home run to Jose Reyes on the first pitch of the game. After that, though, Tanaka settled down. When it was all said-and-done, Tanaka went six innings – striking out 10 in the process.
He now leads the American League with a 1.99 ERA.
Masahiro Tanaka gave up one run over six innings on Tuesday. Photo credit: Arturo Pardavila III.
Tanaka got some run support from Brett Gardner in the third inning. Gardner, going against Marcus Stroman, hit a two-run shot off the right field foul pole. It’s Gardner’s sixth homer of the year. Stroman, a rookie who grew up in Long Island, threw 98 pitches in only 3 2/3 innings.
Gardner saw plenty of pitches from Stroman; his first plate appearance was 12 pitches long.
In the fifth inning, Derek Jeter scored on a Mark Texeira single. It was Jeter’s 1900th run scored – that places him 10th all-time. Jeter is currently 19 runs behind Alex Rodriguez.
The Blue Jays have struggled mightily in the Bronx. They’ve now lost 15 straight games in New York against the Yankees.