New York Yankees Masahiro Tanaka Crushed In First Start vs Tampa Bay Rays

It was a rough start to the 2017 regular season for the New York Yankees and Masahiro Tanaka.

The New York Yankees came into the regular season riding some momentum and with optimism. World Series pressure isn’t present, but there is excitement around the new-look Yankees. That momentum was stopped in its tracks on Opening Day.

The Yankees opened the 2017 regular season against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field. Things did not go as planned as Masahiro Tanaka and the Yankees were crushed in their first game of the regular season.

Tanaka came into the game with a ton of positives. He was on fire during Spring Training, giving up only one run in 24 innings. He gave up that many by the time he recorded his first out of the season.

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The first two batters in the Rays lineup, Corey Dickerson and Kevin Keirmaier got on base; Dickerson singled while Keirmaier doubled. Dickerson would score on a sac fly from Evan Longoria, who was just getting started on the afternoon.

The next two batters would get on base as well. Brad Miller had an infield single, while Tanaka would walk Steven Souza Jr. With the bases loaded, Logan Morrison came to the plate and hit a single, scoring Keirmaier and Miller.

Tanaka would get Tim Beckham to line out and Mallex Smith to strikeout to end the inning, but the damage was already done. The Rays would finish the first inning up 3-0 and never look back. This was a shocking start to the season for Tanaka. Not only had he been great in Spring Training, he usually dominates to start games; last season he surrendered only four runs all season in the first inning.

The Yankees would get two of those runs back in the second inning. The bottom of the Yankees offense was productive all afternoon. Aaron Judge ripped a RBI double that scored Starlin Castro. Ronald Torreyes, who is replacing the injured Didi Gregorius, grounded out to second base after Judge to score Chase Headley.

It would not be long until the Rays got those two runs back and extended the lead. Tanaka looked to be settling in as he retired four consecutive Rays. But, he walked Keirmaier to bring Longoria to the plate again and he made Tanaka pay. Longoria hit a two-run homer to left field to push the lead back to 5-2.

Tanaka would not last much longer after that. After getting a strikeout to start the third inning, Tanak surrendered another home run, this time by Morrison. Beckham would double next, which was followed by a bunt single from Smith. Beckham would score on the play as Gary Sanchez committed an error throwing to first base.

Tanaka would retire Derek Norris after but was then taken out of the game. Tanaka’s final stat line for the afternoon was 2.2 innings, as he surrendered eight hits and two walks resulting in seven runs scored. He would also add three strikeouts.

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Tanaka just did not have it against the Rays. It was a surprising development as Tanaka had never lost to the Rays in his career and was coming in hot. While Tanaka’s performance was disappointing, the Yankees have to be encouraged by their bullpen. Tommy Layne, Adam Warren, Jonathan Holder, and Chasen Shreve combined to pitch 5.1 scoreless innings.

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