After watching him give up a home run to Jose Reyes on the contest's first pitch, you could make the argument that tonight wasn't Masahiro Tanaka's night.
The Yankees' ace, who tossed a complete game in his last outing in Seattle, didn't look at all like himself in the first inning, surrendering a total of three hits.
Eventually, though, the rookie would bounce back, striking out 10 over a solid six innings as the Yanks beat the Blue Jays 3-1.
On the evening, Tanaka actually threw 104 pitches, something outshined by the rest of his numbers, as just one of the final 10 men he faced reached.
The quality start, #19's third of 6 frames, was Tanaka's 14th consecutive to start the year, lowering his AL-best ERA to 1.99.
Still, the Bombers' offense didn't pick him up for a while, failing to record a hit until Kelly Johnson (went 2-for-3 starting in place of Yangervis Solarte) doubled in the bottom of the third.
Immediately following that knock was a Brett Gardner home run off the right field foul pole (his sixth of the year), giving the Yankees a lead they probably didn't deserve.
Be that as it may, the slim advantage was enough after a Mark Teixeira RBI Single in the fifth, as Dellin Betances threw a perfect two innings of relief and David Robertson closed it out in the ninth for his 17th save of the year.
In that six-out performance, Betances faced the Blue Jays' 9-5 hitters, impressively retiring each while recording three strikeouts.
With that accomplishment, the youngster's ERA dropped to 1.55, probably helping his chances of making the All-Star Game.
As for Robertson, his inning wasn't nearly as pretty, with the four men he faced seeing a combined 26 pitches, a triple from Toronto Second Basemen Munenori Kawasaki included.
