Masahiro Tanaka says no way Jays

NEW YORK – Masahiro Tanaka kicked up his left leg, brought around his right arm and let go the first pitch of the game against the Toronto Blue Jays Tuesday night, and there it went, flying into the right-field seats at Yankee Stadium.

"I think it was probably the first time in my career I've given up a first-pitch home run to a batter," Tanaka said via an interpreter.

Jose Reyes hit it: "I made up mind before the game that I was going to swing at the first pitch. You don't want to face Tanaka with two strikes."

It was kind of a distant replay of Tanaka's first game in the majors in April at Toronto. That time, it was Melky Cabrera leading off with a homer on the third pitch.

But Tanaka settled down to win his debut. And he got very stingy to win this one, too. The Yankees' 25-year-old major-league rookie sensation allowed just four other hits and struck out 10 over six innings in a 3-1 victory that opened a six-game homestand and a stretch of six games in nine days against the current AL East leader.

So Tanaka has the most wins in the majors, now sitting at 11-1. He also owns the AL's best ERA at 1.99. All 14 of his outings have been quality starts, the longest current streak in the majors.

"Obviously Tanaka is the best pitcher on the planet," CC Sabathia said, and this was before the game.

There was some intrigue over this game for the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year candidate, a test because it was his second time facing the Jays. They are the majors' top home-run-hitting team, a team that leads the 36-33 Yankees now by 3 1/2 games.

When Tanaka faced the Cubs for a second time, they hung his only loss on him. But Toronto didn't have the same luck even though Tanaka felt his material was lacking.

"Overall I think my stuff wasn't really there tonight," Tanaka said. "All I was trying to do was trying to hang in there and try to keep the ball down as much as possible."

Joe Girardi still heaped praise on the ace of a broken-down rotation.

"What he's done has been remarkable," Girardi said after his 600th win as Yankees manager. "He's been a big part of our success."

Toronto had six base runners through four, not counting Reyes' homer. But Tanaka is very tough with men on base. He fanned seven in that stretch.

Brett Gardner gave Tanaka the lead in the third. Kelly Johnson lined a one-out double off Marcus Stroman, a 23-year-old rookie righty from Long Island. Then Gardner cranked a ball off the netting attached to the foul pole in right. It marked his sixth homer. His career high of eight came last year.

Stroman threw 98 pitches in 3 2/3. Mark Teixeira tacked on an RBI single against Aaron Loup in the fifth.

Dellin Betances followed Tanaka and fanned three over two hitless innings, and David Robertson closed it out for his 17th save. The Blue Jays ended up striking out 15 times. Tanaka accounted for two-thirds.

"He's been real good," Robertson said. "He battled his butt off out there today."

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