ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Masahiro Tanaka's third start of the 2015 season could not have been more different from his first two.
For one thing, he threw seven two-hit shutout innings after allowing seven earned runs in his previous two games. For another, he struck out eight hitters in the 9-0 win over the Tampa Rays, nearly equal to the total strikeouts in his two previous starts (10 in 9 innings). For a third, his velocity was up a tick or two, as high as 94 MPH according to the radar gun readings displayed at Tropicana Field.
But the biggest difference was this: After two starts in which the majority of the pitches he threw were breaking balls and off-speed pitches, in this one, Tanaka went back to plain, unvarnished heat. For the first time all season, he threw more fastballs and fewer splitters. After throwing just four four-seam fastballs in his first start, a loss to the Blue Jays on Opening Day, and just 16 in his second start, a win against Boston in which he allowed four earned runs in five innings, Tanaka went to the old No. 1 38 times against the Rays.
And after throwing as many as 29 splitters against the Blue Jays, and 17 against the Red Sox, in this game he went to that pitch just a dozen times out of 85 pitches. Perhaps most surprisingly, he even went to his curveball, a pitch he had thrown just once in his two previous starts, 10 times tonight.
It made for a more varied attack, one that kept the Rays off-balance for the entire seven innings, by which point the Yankees were cruising behind a 9-0 lead.
Whether it was because of increased arm strength -- Tanaka had said earlier in the week that he was still working on that after a comparatively light spring training work load -- or a conscious difference in philosophy and approach from a month ago, when he said he would be throwing fewer fastballs this season, the result was the same.
"He was better," pitching coach Larry Rothschild said. "The command of the fastball was better. I thought he had a better downhill plane on it, and threw some fastballs down and away to the spot to right handers very well. I think it's a real good step in the right direction.”
"I thought he had all his pitches tonight, which was the big difference," Joe Girardi said. "When you have all your weapons you usually are going to go deeper into the game."
And Chris Young, who hit the grand slam that busted the game open in the seventh inning, offered his own unique perspective, having been struck out by Tanaka last season as a New York Met.
"I think he's amazing," Young said. "He keeps hitters off balance and you never know what you're going to get when you're at the plate. There's really no way to have a legit approach against him. You can get anything in any count, and that makes him really tough.”
Tanaka was typically evasive about his approach after the game, answering a question about why he was more effective tonight with, "It's hard to say," and when asked why it was hard to say, following up with "I don't know."
That, too, could be part of his plan to keep hitters off-balance by keeping such information out of the media.
But the numbers don't lie: Tanaka threw harder, and he threw hard more often, than he had in his previous two starts, and the results were strikingly different.
Now, whether that was influenced by the weakness of the Tampa Bay lineup remains to be seen; there will be tougher tests right around the corner, perhaps as early as Thursday if Girardi sends him out on regular rest against the Detroit Tigers, and certainly no later than Friday when the Yankees return home for a weekend series against the surprising Mets. Girardi said he has not yet decided when Tanaka will start again.
But for those who have been concerned not only about Tanaka's velocity, but about his pitch selection, and what both could mean about the state of his right elbow and its partially torn UCL, his effort against the Rays could be nothing but encouraging.
"I felt pretty good about him once we got through spring training," Girardi said. "Obviously, the only question we probably need to answer is going every fifth day, and how his body responds continually. But I think for him (this game) was important. I think it's really important for him to see when I have my stuff, I'm going to pitch extremely well, and that's what he did tonight."
And also, perhaps, to know that he can throw his fastball as hard and as often as he wants to, without incident but with plenty of effectiveness.
Offensive breakout: Tonight, for a change, Alex Rodriguez was just about the only Yankee who didn't hit, although he still walked twice and scored both times. But the fireworks were provided by Young (HR No. 3, RBI No. 8), Brian McCann (three hits including an unlikely two-RBI triple), Brett Gardner (two hits, two stolen bases, and an RBI) and Jacoby Ellsbury (two hits). Mark Teixeira had a tough night (0-for-3 with a strikeout) but had a sac fly and his long at-bat in the seventh helped wear down Rays reliever C.J. Riefenhauser.
