But it looks like Masahiro Tanaka doesn't have it at all anymore. Like Matt Harvey of the Mets, he was once, arguably, the best pitcher in baseball, let alone in New York, but now can't win to save his life.
He pitched 5 innings, allowing 5 runs on 5 hits, 3 of them home runs, although he did walk only 1 batter. His ERA for this season is now 6.55. It's not that he has no control, he's just getting hit hard.
The bullpen did its job: Between them, Tommy Layne, Chad Green (most of it, 3 1/3rd innings) and Chasen Shreve pitched 4 shutout innings, allowing only 1 hit and 1 walk. But the Yankee bats couldn't quite back him up.
At the top of the order, Brett Gardner and Gary Sanchez went 0-for-9 between them, although Gardner did draw a walk. After a great run late last season, Sanchez is now batting .248. Chase Headley went 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping his batting average to .225 and his on-base percentage to .300.
Chris Carter hit a home run in the 5th, his 5th of the season. But he's another guy who's really dropped off: He hit 41 home runs for the Milwaukee Brewers last season, to lead the National League; but, in the American League this season, he's batting .183 with a .278 on-base percentage. Don't ever again tell me the NL is the better League: The AL is a lot harder.
Carter's home run was a grand slam, but it provided all the Yankee runs last night. The Yankees stranded a man on 1st with 2 out in the 1st inning and again in the 3rd, a man on 1st with 1 out in the 2nd and again in the 4th, a man on 2nd with 2 out in the 5th and again in the 7th, a man on 3rd with 1 out and 1st & 3rd with 2 out in the 8th, and blew men on 1st & 2nd with nobody out with a double play in the 6th. And, needing 1 run to send the game to extra innings, they went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th.
Final score: Red Sox 5, Yankees 4. WP: Drew Pomeranz (6-3). SV: Craig Kimbrel (17). LP: Tanaka (5-6).
With Chance Adams pitching very well at Triple-A Scranton, much-hyped prospect Gleyber Torres getting off to a good start while playing 3rd base there, and Greg Bird now there as he works he way through injury rehab, the Yankees have decisions to make soon. Adams to replace Tanaka in the rotation, at least for a while? Torres to replace Headley? Bird to replace Carter?
Meanwhile, we have 2 more games with The Scum this week. Tonight, CC Sabathia starts against Rick Porcello. I saw a stat a few minutes ago that says that CC is 5-0 this season after a Yankee loss. That's starting to sound like 1978 Ron Guidry. Except that CC weighs twice as much as Guidry: 320 as opposed to 160.
Then again, he pitches better when he eats well, so let the big dog eat, and let's get some runs! Beat The Scum!