The Yankees have been careful with Masahiro Tanaka since he’s come back from a torn UCL — to the point he hadn’t reached the 100-pitch mark this season.
That streak ended Thursday, when a depleted bullpen and the upcoming All-Star break combined to let Joe Girardi keep Tanaka on the mound into the eighth inning. The right-hander responded with his longest — and one of his best — outings of the season in a 6-2 win over the A’s before the Yankees headed to Fenway to face the surging Red Sox.
Tanaka laughed when asked if he was aware how many pitches he was throwing as the game went on, and he was clearly encouraged by how he performed.
“Yes, I was aware,” Tanaka said through a translator after tossing 114 pitches in 7 ²/₃ innings dominant innings, in which he didn’t allow a hit after the second inning. “I haven’t [gone] that long for some time. So yes, I think it was good for me to be able to go over 100 pitches.”
Still, Tanaka said he wasn’t thinking about the fact Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances and Justin Wilson were all likely unavailable, but Girardi appreciated the effort.
“That was really important,” Girardi said. “We needed some distance out of him.”
Tanaka overcame a rough second inning, just like CC Sabathia did on Wednesday, as the Yankees got encouraging results from their two high-priced starters who have provided more questions than answers for much of this season.
And the top of the lineup did its part, with Jacoby Ellsbury and the AL’s newest All-Star, Brett Gardner, combining to reach base six times.
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Tanaka hadn’t thrown more than 98 pitches in a start this year, as the Yankees try not to push the right-hander to the point his already fragile right elbow finally gives out.
But he showed no ill effects against the A’s. Tanaka gave up just two hits and a pair of runs — only one earned and struck out six. It was Tanaka’s longest outing since he pitched a complete game on June 28, 2014, shortly before the elbow injury materialized.
“He had a quick first inning and then the second inning got kind of long,” Girardi said of the 31 pitches Tanaka threw in an inning that started with Josh Reddick reaching on catcher’s interference. “You start to think about how you’re gonna use everyone. Then he became pretty economical after that.”
Which was good news for the Yankees, who tied the game at 2-2 in the third and took the lead for good when Ellsbury ripped a one-out single down the right-field line to score two runs in the fourth.
Tanaka made that lead hold up. Of the last 19 batters faced, the only one to get on base was Billy Butler, who struck out but reached on a wild pitch. He also fanned his final two batters before Chasen Shreve and Adam Warren got the final four outs.
The Yankees added a pair of runs in the eighth, thanks to a throwing error by Oakland shortstop Marcus Semien.
And now they’ll just hope to see more outings like that from Tanaka, who described his first half as “shaky” after he improved to 5-3 and lowered his ERA to 3.63.
“I went on the DL and had some bad outings, but I was able to end on a pretty good note in the first half,” Tanaka said. “I’m going to try to build that up [and have] a good second half.”
That’s going to be necessary if the Yankees intend to hold onto their AL East lead after the break.
Girardi liked what he saw after Tanaka’s recent struggles.
“He’s had a couple of hiccups along the way, like every one of our other starters,” Girardi said. “I like where he’s at physically and I like the way he’s throwing the baseball. I hope he has great second half.”