Tanaka Struggles Again in 5-3 Loss to Indians

In his last couple of games, it's been obvious to us all that Yankees' Pitcher Masahiro Tanaka hasn't been himself. 

The 25-year-old rookie, coming off his first non-quality outing last Thursday in Minnesota, had lost two of his last three starts coming into tonight, the first time that's happened in his MLB career.

Still, the fact that he was facing an overall weak opponent in Trevor Bauer this evening gave Yanks fans reason to feel confident, a thought that now seems pretty misguided, as Tanaka put up his worst performance of 2014 in a 5-3 loss to the Indians.

In his first two innings of work, Tanaka frustratingly surrendered five hits and one run, something outshined by the fact the Bombers' offense was again playing well, tagging Bauer for three early crossings of home thanks to a bloop RBI Single from Mark Teixeira, a throwing error on a stolen base attempt by Yan Gomes, and a groundout from Brett Gardner.

Unfortunately, after the top of the second concluded the Pinstripes' bats died, and with them most of Tanaka's confidence.

Following Michael Brantley's second RBI Double in Cleveland's half of the fifth, the Yankees' $155 million man was taken deep with a man on first by Nick Swisher, giving the Indians their first lead in the sixth. 

At that point, the argument could still be made that the Yanks had a chance, although that hopefulness pretty much dissolved in the Tribe's next turn, when Brantley also knocked one over the wall for his third RBI of the contest.

Shortly after that, Tanaka was finally taken out, with his line reading 6 2/3 innings of five-run, ten-hit ball, dropping his record to 12-4 and raising his ERA to 2.51.

As for Bauer, his stats were a lot more pleasant, with him eventually finishing 7 frames, being charged with just two earned trips around the bases due to the aforementioned misplay by Gomes.