The Yankees have a nice little pitcher in Masahiro Tanaka, maybe a No. 3 starter. But an ace? Please.
Aces adjust. And pitching on four days’ rest does not get the best out of Tanaka, a reality he and the Yankees must face. Tanaka’s velocity is just OK, and when he leaves the ball up, the ball leaves the ballpark.
Tanaka is trying to make the most of what he has, and the Yankees have not seen anything close to ace stuff from Tanaka when he pitches on four days’ rest, especially when he faces a team with any type of power.
The Tigers don’t do a lot of things right, but they can mash the baseball on occasion, and home runs by Nick Castellanos in the second inning and a three-run blast by Ian Kinsler in the fifth made all the difference as the Tigers roared to a 6-1 victory at Yankee Stadium on Saturday night, snapping the Yankees’ five-game winning streak.
The Yankees had little chance against the Tigers’ rebounding ace Justin Verlander.
Tanaka’s line was ugly — 6 ¹/₃ innings, six hits, five runs (all earned), one walk, four strikeouts, two home runs and one hit batsman. He threw 92 pitches, 67 strikes. Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury and left fielder Brett Gardner each made excellent catches on bottle rockets that were hit off Tanaka.
Tanaka (3-2) has shown he will never be a true ace, not a $155 million ace, that’s for sure.
The Yankees would love it for Tanaka to step it up on four days’ rest, but he simply can’t do the job. He owns a 4.70 ERA in six starts this season on four days’ rest and has given up six home runs in those starts.
Of the five starts with five days’ rest, Tanaka posts a 1.26 ERA this season with only one home run.
This is an issue that will not go away.
Asked specifically whether he feels more comfortable with five days’ rest, Tanaka offered a baffling answer, saying, “No, not necessarily.’’
Those numbers don’t lie.
As for his woes, Tanaka simply noted, “It’s about the location of some of my pitches and we got hurt by that.’’
That, too.
Tanaka had to be scheduled for four days’ rest and not five days’ rest because of the crush of games. The Yankees needed a little more from Tanaka on Saturday night, and he could not deliver.
The Yankees rolled the dice on another start with four days’ rest and Tanaka served up home runs off 91-mph and 92-mph meatballs.
“I’m sure there is something to it, but as a manager, when you are playing 40 out of 41 days, you can’t have a six-man rotation, your roster would be all screwed up,’’ Joe Girardi said. “It’s not like he hasn’t thrown the ball well. He made a couple of mistakes tonight.’’
The Yankees have been playing much better baseball, but this is a team with flaws. They have been crushed at first base by injuries, and rookie Rob Refsnyder is another Yankee doing the best he can — he even drove in their lone run with a single up the middle in the third.
Refsnyder is learning first base on the run. It’s safe to say he is no Don Mattingly over there, but he’s trying his best. The Yankees have made some fine hitting adjustments, and as Gardner said before the game: “Our pitchers have been doing a phenomenal job. When you feel you don’t have to hit a three-run home run to tie the game, you are a lot more relaxed out there.’’
The Yankees fell behind by three in the fifth after Kinsler’s first-pitch blast. Kinsler added a two-run double in the seventh off Kirby Yates, which accounted for Tanaka’s fifth run.
Tanaka arrived with all that fanfare, but an elbow injury derailed his career that first year, and he has never lived up to the expectations created by his signing.
On the fifth day, Tanaka should have rested.