New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka was pulled from his start vs the Mets after running the bases. in the sixth inning.
Interleague play is always scary for American League teams.
After reaching first on an error in the top of the sixth inning, New York Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka had to run the bases. Trailing 1-0 to the Mets and Jacob deGrom, you had a feeling that Tanaka would play a role in scoring the next run.
After the Yankees loaded the bases, Tanaka moved to third with Aaron Judge coming to the plate. The best case scenario for the Bombers was for Judge to hit a home run or a single allowing Tanaka to score easily. But instead, they got the worst case scenario.
Tanaka doing the dirt work pic.twitter.com/xzam9EfzTM
— Elite Sports NY (@EliteSportsNY) June 9, 2018
Judge hit a ball to right field for Jay Bruce to field. Bruce made the catch with Tanaka tagging on the play. Bruce doesn’t have a great arm in right, but with the pitcher on third, there was clearly going to be a play at the plate. He scored the run, but appeared to have gotten hurt on the play.
Tanaka would go directly to the Yankees locker room and would not return. The team announced that the 29-year-old right-hander left the game with stiffness in both hamstrings.
Tanaka left game with stiffness in both hamstrings, Yankees say. Will be re-evaluated tomorrow.
— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) June 9, 2018
Outside of allowing a leadoff home run to Brandon Nimmo, Tanaka was having one of his best starts of the season. He had thrown five innings, of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts and only one walk. His stuff was probably the crispest it has been all season.
This is not the first time the Yankees have had a bad experience with a pitcher running the bases in interleague play. You cannot forget the Chein Ming Wang injury in 2008 where he hurt himself running the bases in Houston. After the injury, Wang was never the same, and the Yankees are hoping that is not the case with Tanaka.
Tanaka will be re-evaluated tomorrow. The Yankees and Mets are tied at one in the seventh inning.
