Much like his first two outings of the season, Yankees hurler Masahiro Tanaka lacked length as he pitched four innings in a no decision against Atlanta.
Tanaka pitched just 7 and 2/3 combined innings in his first two starts of the season. He pitched 2 and 2/3 innings against Boston on July 1st, and five shutout innings against Tampa this past Friday.
Wednesday’s start against the Braves saw Tanaka allow two runs off five hits. He walked two and struck out three. In terms of pitches, it was his longest start at 66 tosses. His first two starts saw him throw 51 and 59 pitches, respectively.
Tanaka sat in the low-90s with his fastball like he usually does, but rarely threw it as he went splitter and slider heavy.
The only real flaw of the night was allowing a two-run home run to Johan Camargo. After a Nick Markakis single with one out, Camargo launched one deep down the right field line, into the seats.
On July 4th, Tanaka was hit in the head by a come-backer off the bat of Giancarlo Stanton. It seems that the Yankees are still trying to ease Tanaka back in as he hasn’t thrown more than 70 pitches in an outing. He could have pitched longer if needed on Wednesday, and certainly could have gone longer on Friday against Tampa.
Hopefully, Tanaka can continue to build on these last few starts and get stretched out a bit. With the circumstances of the season, the team needs length out of starters to avoid stress on the bullpen. They don’t need the bullpen to get burned out early on.
Tanaka’s pitches have been sharp all year, and it needs to stay that way for the Yankees to keep having success.