The Yankees beat the Athletics 6-2 Thursday afternoon as Masahiro Tanaka walked one and struck out six in 7 2/3 innings. The strikeouts came late, however, as Tanaka struck out the last two batters he faced to bring his total to six.
The Yankees extended their lead in the AL EAst as both Toronto and Tampa Bay fell. Jeff Samardzija pitched a four-hit shutout, the White Sox beating the Blue Jays 2-0. The Royals scored eight runs despite the loss of Alex Gordon to beat the Royals by five. With Boston and Baltimore idle, the Yankees lead the AL East by three games over the second place Orioles and by 5 1/2 games over last place Boston. The worst they can do is go into the All-Star break tied for first.
And Brett Gardner gets to be an All-Star
This is the first start for Tanaka over 100 pitches since last June 2014. He threw 114 pitches, which is about 20% over his average for the past year, See how he responds.
I expect Manager Joe wanted to rest the pen to prepare for the Red Sox after giving his last 2 starters such a quick hook (under 90 pitches and pulls shortly after the 5th)