Masahiro Tanaka gives up three long balls in the New York Yankees game one loss to the Boston Red Sox.
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The Boston Red Sox were quick to score off the New York Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka, taking an early one-run lead in the top of the first.
Mookie Betts ripped a single to start the night, advancing to third on a single by Andrew Benintendi and scored on a ground out fielder’s choice by Xander Bogaerts to make it 1-0.
The Yankees, however, were quick to respond as they came back to tie the game in the bottom of the second.
The white-hot on-base machine Aaron Hicks worked a one-out walk. When Hicks tried to advance to third on a single by Didi Gregorius, Mookie Betts air-mailed the throw to third and into the stands to allow Didi to take second and Hicks to cross home as the tying run.
Tanaka’s Long Ball Blue’s Continue
In the top of the fourth, Tanaka served up a two-run blast to Mitch Moreland and then immediately followed that up by coughing up a solo shot to Hanley Ramirez to make it a 4-2 ball game.
Then in the top of the fifth, Andrew Benintendi got Tanaka for a solo shot to open up the Red Sox lead to 5-1.
The long balls were the 12th, 13th and 14th home runs allowed by Tanaka in his previous 35 innings, and 17th overall in just a third of the season. Not good, especially considering that he is supposed to be the ace of the staff.
Tanaka’s night was over after that rough fifth, departing with a final line of five innings pitched, allowing five runs on five hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
Chris Carter Coming On?
There was a Chris Carter sighting tonight as the struggling first baseman smashed a solo home run to deep left to make it a 5-2 ball game in the bottom of the fifth inning. With all the rumblings of the much-anticipated returns of Greg Bird and Tyler Austin, last year’s NL Home Run Champ needs to get it going if he has any hopes of maintaining a spot on this roster. And for at least one night, he did just that.
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— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 6, 2017
The Yankees scored their third run of the night when Starlin Castro, who had singled to lead off the sixth and advanced to third on a single by Aaron Hicks, scored when Gregorius grounded into a double play to pull New York to within two.
Continuing their comeback attempt, New York scored another run in the bottom of the eighth on a dropped third strike by catcher Christian Vasquez, allowing Matt Holliday to score from third and Gregorius to take first despite striking out.
What’s Next?
The Yankees will try to steal game two and even this three-game middle of the week series tomorrow night. Taking the ball for New York will be C.C. Sabathia(6-2, 4.12 ERA), who will definitely have to be sharp facing this right-handed heavy Red Sox lineup. On the mound for Boston tomorrow night will be the 2016 AL Cy Young Award winner Rick Porcello (3-7, 4.24 ERA), who is equally tasked with the tall order of shutting down one of the best lineups in all of baseball. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM/EST and can be seen on MLB.TV and ESPN.
