The Opening Day losing streak has hit six years. That is both a new franchise record and quite annoying. Getting a little tired of seeing 0-1 every year, you guys. A rare dreadful start by Masahiro Tanaka put the Yankees down early on Sunday, and they were never able to get back in the game. The Rays won the season opener 7-3.
A Bad Start
Not the way you wanna start the season, Masahiro! After allowing four first inning runs total last season — four! — he allowed three in the first inning Sunday. A single by Corey Dickerson, a hustle double by Kevin Kiermaier, and a sac fly by Evan Longoria created the first run. Tanaka should have had his second out of the inning on Brad Miller’s hard hit grounder to first, but the ball got through Greg Bird’s glove and Miller beat it out. Womp womp. Starlin Castro did a nice job backing up the play to prevent the ball from rolling into the outfield.
What followed was a rarity: a four-pitch walk. Tanaka issued one all last season. One! So, naturally, he issued one to the fifth batter he faced in 2016. Go figure. The walk loaded the bases, so Tanaka was a double play ball away from limiting the damage. He did get the ground ball from Logan Morrison, but it skipped by a diving Ronald Torreyes behind second base …
… and into center field for a two-run single. Blah. A full-sized shortstop might have been able to knock that down and limit it to a one-run single, but alas. (I kid. I kid.) Tanaka was able to escape the inning without allowing any more runs, but the damage had already been done. One inning into the new season, the Spring Training juggernaut Yankees were down 3-0. Baseball.
Tanaka never did settle down after that tough first inning. He gave up a two-run home run to Longoria in the second inning and it was a stupid homer. It hit the top of the short wall in left field and hopped over. Did you know the Rays originally cut out the top of that wall so Carl Crawford could rob home runs years ago? True story. The two-out walk to Kiermaier set that up. Tanaka gave Tampa a free two-out baserunner and Longoria made him pay.
Morrison tacked on a legitimate solo home run to center field in the third inning, then a Tim Beckham double and a Gary Sanchez error created Tampa’s seventh run. Mallex Smith laid down a bunt, Sanchez rushed the throw because Smith is crazy fast, and the throw sailed way wide of first base. Beckham scored on the play and Smith chugged into second. Tanaka faced one more batter, getting Derek Norris to fly out, and that was it. Joe Girardi yanked him.
The total damage: seven runs on eight hits, including two home runs, and two walks in 2.2 innings. Tanaka threw 67 pitches to get eight outs. The seven earned runs are a career high — he had allowed seven runs on four other occasions, though there were unearned runs involved — and the 2.2 innings are the second fewest of his career. (He had a 1.2-inning start in 2014.) This was only the fourth time in 76 starts with the Yankees that Tanaka failed to complete five full innings.
Overall, Tanaka just never really looked like himself on the mound. He was missing his spots by a lot — Sanchez made several nice stops on pitches in the dirt and well wide of the plate — and he fell behind a ton of hitters. In fact, Tanaka faced 18 hitters, and only eight saw a first pitch strike. Five of the 18 saw a hitter friendly 2-0 or 3-1 count, which is bad news. Good to get the worst start of the year out of the way early, I guess. Shake it off and go get ’em in five days, Masahiro.
Two Runs Early, One Run Late
Following that ugly bottom of the first inning, we were all hoping the Yankees would answer right back, and hey, they did. Back-to-back singles by Castro and Chase Headley — Castro beat out an infield single and Headley squibbed a grounder to beat the shift — set up Aaron Judge for an RBI double. Chris Archer hung a first pitch slider and Judge hooked it to left field. That scored one run. Torreyes followed with a run-scoring ground out for the second run. Just like that, it was 3-2 and the Yankees were right back in the game. Then Tanaka barfed all over it.
Archer did what Tanaka could not do after that: he settled down. Following the Judge double, Archer retired 14 of the next 15 batters he faced on 53 total pitches. That streak ended when Castro and Headley strung together another set of back-to-back singles, this time leading off the seventh inning. Castro lined a single to center and Headley bunted to beat the shift. Pretty much a perfect bunt, it was. Archer’s pitch count was rising, so that seventh inning rally was New York’s last best chance to get back in the game.
Although the Yankees ultimately did not score that inning, they got the situation they will take every day of the week: Sanchez at the plate with the bases loaded. Archer’s pitch count was over 100 too. Sanchez sliced a two-strike slider juuust foul down the right field line — we’re talking maybe six inches from being a three-run double — before rolling over on a slider and grounding out to short. That’s why you bat Sanchez second. That one extra lineup spot could be the difference between Sanchez hitting with the bases loaded and a lesser hitter. Just didn’t pay off this time.
Unlike previous years, the Yankees did not pack it in after blowing that rally. Two singles (Headley and Aaron Hicks) and an error loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth inning. Fighting Spirit! Chris Carter made his Yankees debut at that point — he was pinch-hitting for Pete Kozma, who took over at short after Hicks pinch-hit for Torreyes in the seventh inning (Hicks took over in left and Kozma took Brett Gardner’s spot in the lineup) — and drove in a run with a sac fly. Sanchez struck out, Bird flew out, and the game was over. At least maybe the O’Neill Theory will be in effect Tuesday.
The Firsts
Since it was Opening Day, the Yankees had a whole bunch of “firsts” this afternoon. Here’s a quick recap:
- First Hit: Castro (infield single in the second inning against Archer)
- First Walk: Bird (first inning against Archer)
- First RBI: Judge (second inning double against Archer)
- First Run: Castro (on Judge’s double)
- First Hit-By-Pitch: Jacoby Ellsbury (eighth inning by Danny Farquhar)
- First Home Run: Still waiting.
- First Stolen Base: Still waiting.
Tanaka recorded the first pitching strikeout of the season, because duh. He fanned Smith on three pitches to end the first inning. Tommy Layne was the first reliever used — love seeing matchups in the third inning on Opening Day! — and Hicks was the first pinch-hitter used.
Leftovers
Ellsbury, the No. 1 hitter turned No. 5 hitter, led off two innings in this game. He flew out in foul territory to start the second inning and struck out to start the fourth inning. The top five hitters in the lineup went a combined 1-for-20 with a single, a walk, a hit-by-pitch, and a sac fly. Ain’t gonna win many games like that. Sanchez did hit a first inning rocket back up the middle that hit Archer in the shin. At 115.7 mph, it was Gary’s hardest hit ball as a big leaguer. And it was an out. Go figure.
Castro was the offensive hero on Opening Day, going 3-for-4 with three hard-hit singles. He had a ridiculous first series last season, remember. Another hot start would be cool. Headley had three shift-beating hits. He was living the good BABIP life this afternoon. The 6-7-8 portion of the lineup went a combined 7-for-12. Also, four relievers (Layne, Adam Warren, Jonathan Holder, Chasen Shreve) combined to throw 5.1 scoreless innings. Warren retired all seven batters he faced. It’s almost like he should be starting rather than mopping up.
Not a great start to the season for the instant replay system. There was a technical issue at Tropicana Field, so both teams had unlimited crew chief challenges for the game. And, in the first inning, the replay crew appeared to blow a call on Matt Holliday’s would-be infield single. He was called out and the replays YES showed sure made it look like he was safe, but the out call stood for whatever reason. Then, in the second, it appeared the Rays got Castro at first on his infield single, yet the replay crew said no. I don’t understand anything anymore.
And finally, the Yankees tied a franchise record today by having four players age 25-and-under in their Opening Day lineup. The four: Sanchez, Bird, Judge, and Torreyes. The Yankees had done that previously in 1914 (Bill Holden, Fritz Maisel, Roger Peckinpaugh, Harry Williams) and 1932 (Ben Chapman, Frankie Crosetti, Bill Dickey, Lefty Gomez). That is pretty darn cool. Shoulda started Luis Severino just to set the record. He couldn’t have pitched any worse than Tanaka.
Box Score, WPA Graph & Standings
Head on over to ESPN for the box score and MLB.com for the video highlights. Also, make sure you check out our Bullpen Workload page too. Bullpens are pretty darn important these days. Here is the first win probability graph of the season:
Source: FanGraphs
Up Next
An off-day, for some reason. I’m guessing Opening Day was originally scheduled for Monday before ESPN flexed it to Sunday for broadcasting purposes. Otherwise there’s no reason to have an off-day after the opener when the ballpark has a dome. Whatever. CC Sabathia and Jake Odorizzi are the starters for the second game of the season Tuesday night.
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