Final
Series: Game 2 of 3
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1:05 PM ET, May 31, 2014
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Associated Press
Tanaka, Yankees Stifle Twins
NEW YORK --
Masahiro Tanaka
throws a splitter that drops out of sight, ranks among the major league
leaders in many prized pitching categories and appears, so far, to be
worth every penny the
New York Yankees paid to sign him.
His place in those pinstripes? Tanaka seems to have a different take than most everyone else.
"No, I don't feel that I'm the ace," he said Saturday through a translator.
Tanaka shut down
Joe Mauer and the other Minnesota hitters while lowering his AL-best ERA to 2.06, and
Brian McCann lined a go-ahead double in the eighth inning Saturday that sent the New York Yankees over the Twins 3-1.
Tanaka (8-1) permitted only an unearned run in eight innings. The
heralded rookie from Japan gave up four singles, just two leaving the
infield.
Tanaka struck out nine, giving him 88 in 78 2/3 innings. The
25-year-old righty is fanning more batters in the big leagues than he
did back home before getting a $155 million, seven-year contract from
the Yankees.
"It's probably the guys here haven't seen me," he said.
Tanaka walked two and bounced two wild pitches. But he was especially sharp against Mauer, the three-time AL batting champion.
Mauer, who faced Tanaka in spring training, struck out on three
pitches in the first inning with a runner on third. Mauer fanned on four
pitches with runners on second and third in the third, then tapped into
a double play and later grounded out.
"Guys said the ball was just disappearing," Twins manager Ron
Gardenhire said. "His splitter is unbelievable, he's got all the
pitches."
"And we also saw that he's very competitive. A few times you could see him yelling at himself, he's very competitive," he said.
Yankees first baseman
Mark Teixeira
left in the sixth because of soreness in his surgically repaired right
wrist, the same problem that forced him to miss three games this week.
Manager Joe Girardi said Teixeira was expected to miss two more games.
"Our feeling, right now, is that it's going to be short term," Girardi said.
It was 1-all when
Jacoby Ellsbury singled with one out in the Yankees eighth off
Brian Duensing (1-2). Ellsbury stole second, and continued to third when catcher
Josmil Pinto's throw from his knees went into center field for an error.
In light showers,
Brian Roberts walked and McCann hit an RBI double over leaping first baseman
Chris Parmelee into the right-field corner. Following a 34-minute rain delay,
Kelly Johnson drove in a run with an infield single.
David Robertson pitched the ninth for his 12th save. Minnesota has lost seven of nine.
Yangervis Solarte homered for the Yankees' first run.
Tanaka and Twins starter
Kevin Correia both escaped early trouble, and nobody pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning until the seventh.
Brian Dozier grounded the first pitch of the game off Johnson's glove at third base for an error, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on
Josh Willingham's two-out single.
Correia got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first when he
struck out Teixeira and got McCann to bounce into a double play.
Solarte homered in the fourth, giving the rookie infielder a team-leading 26 RBIs.
Solarte singled with two outs and the slow-footed McCann on second in
the sixth. McCann was held at third as strong-armed right fielder
Oswaldo Arcia fielded the ball and threw home, and Solarte was thrown out trying to take second.
Arcia had two assists in Friday night's 6-1 win.
Game notes
Twins rookie CF
Danny Santana
was out of the lineup, a day after he needed seven stitches to close a
cut on his left eyelid. He was hurt when his batting helmet flew off
during a headfirst slide and bounced up to hit him in the face. "We have
to be guarded here," Gardenhire said. ... Gardenhire won a replay
challenge in the third, and
Eduardo Escobar wound up with an infield hit. ... Former Yankees All-Star
Phil Hughes (5-1, 3.23) faces his former team Sunday. Rookie
Chase Whitley (0-0, 2.57) starts for New York. ...
Derek Stepan,
Ryan McDonagh and
Derick Brassard of the
New York Rangers
were in the crowd, and got big cheers when shown on the videoboard. The
Rangers are in the Stanley Cup final. ... The Twins were trying for
their fourth straight win at Yankee Stadium, having won their final two
games at the park last year and again Friday. The last time Minnesota
won four in a row in the Bronx was 1968.
Copyright by STATS LLC and The Associated Press
Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka tied a rookie record Saturday by
winning his eighth game before the end of May. Here's a look at the
company he joined:
» 
