SEATTLE — Gary Sanchez’s exploits aren’t limited to his home-run prowess. He has also helped turn Masahiro Tanaka back into an ace.
In their first two games as batterymates, the duo has led the Yankees to a pair of wins — including Wednesday’s 5-0 win over the Mariners at Safeco Field.
Tanaka was able to follow up his 7 ?/?-inning scoreless outing against the Angels with another seven shutout frames in Seattle. And as much as Tanaka appreciates Sanchez’s work on offense, he also credited his work at calling the game.
“There wasn’t much verbal communication, but I wanted to use more of my breaking ball and curveball,” Tanaka said through a translator. “I shook him off a couple of times trying to get to that curveball. He at one point realized that’s what I wanted to do and he was giving the sign when I really wanted it.”
Of course, Tanaka had to throw the pitches. And manager Joe Girardi thought the right-hander had to fight through some lackluster stuff early on before finding his groove around the fourth inning.
Tanaka admitted he was overthrowing in the first few innings and he was also helped by Aaron Judge throwing out Robinson Cano in the first when Cano tried to stretch a single into a double. Leonys Martin also just missed a two-run homer when it went off the top of the wall for a single.
Still, Tanaka cruised through seven innings, giving up just six hits and walking his first batter after four straight starts without one — spanning 132 batters.
It was the first time Tanaka has posted back-to-back scoreless outings of seven innings or more and he has won four consecutive starts to improve to 11-4. And he was also able to outdo fellow Japanese right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma.
Asked if that made the result any more satisfying, Tanaka said: “Maybe a little bit, but the most important part is that [Seattle] is a couple games ahead of us in the wild-card race. This was a big victory.”
Tanaka will have to at least come close to keeping this up if the Yankees are going to overtake the teams necessary to get to the postseason.
So far, he has stayed healthy and his 168 innings pitched are already a career-high since he came to the majors.
“That’s satisfying to a certain extent, but right now is not the time to reflect,” Tanaka said. “The season’s not over.”