Yanks Ace Masahiro Tanaka: 'Overall, I Think My Pitches Were Good'
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- It wasn't a good start to the season for Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka.
And if he doesn't pitch like he did last year, the Bombers are in serious trouble.
Russell Martin singled in two runs and Edwin Encarnacion hit a two-run homer off Tanaka as the Blue Jays beat the Yankees, 6-1, on Monday.
Toronto broke it open with a five-run third inning against Tanaka (0-1).
After Tanaka made Toronto look silly with a heavy mix of sliders and splitters in the first two innings, striking out three, the Blue Jays solved him.
"We got to him a couple of times because he made mistakes," Dalton Pompey said.
Kevin Pillar led off the third with a single and the Japanese star, making his first opening-day start for New York, struggled to get an out after that.
Devon Travis walked and Jose Reyes put down a bunt that third baseman Chase Headley threw away, allowing a run to score.
After Reyes was checked by a trainer at second base, Martin -- who signed an $82 million, five-year contract this winter -- singled. An out later, Encarnacion connected for a 5-0 lead.
For what it's worth, the 26-year-old right-hander doesn't sound too concerned.
"Overall, I think my pitches were good," Tanaka said through an interpreter, according to the team's official website. "Obviously the third inning, those weren't the results I wanted. Looking back -- the first inning, second inning -- I think I was pitching well with good tempo and good movement.
"...I wasn't looking for any kind of negative outcome, but for today's game, of course I'm upset with the results. The team put me in that situation, and just the fact that I couldn't pull through and sort of meet that expectation -- yes, I'm a little bit upset."
The Yankees are counting on Tanaka to find the form that made him an All-Star in his rookie season last year before partially tearing a ligament in his right elbow and missing 2 1/2 months.
But he lasted only four innings Monday, the shortest opening-day start by a Yankees pitcher since Phil Niekro in 1985, when he went four innings against the Red Sox, according to STATS.
"I'm not going to make excuses," Yankees pitching coach Larry Rothschild said, according to Yankees.com. "He's capable of pitching better than today, and he will. I think you'll see it as long as he stays healthy, and I believe right now he is healthy."
A couple of days after saying he expected the velocity on his fastball to be down, Tanaka was right. He regularly threw in the mid-90s last year, but just twice hit 93 on Monday.
"Velocity can be talked about a lot, but we've seen guys throw 95 (and) get hit really hard," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "It comes down to location, movement and deception, which he had the first two innings. The third inning he did not because he got in bad counts."
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