Returning ace Masahiro Tanaka surrendered just one earned run in a nice 5 1/3 innings and Brian McCann homered twice today as the Yankees impressively clinched this weekend series with a 5-2 win over the Blue Jays.
In his start this afternoon, his first since July 8's loss to Cleveland, Tanaka struggled early on, giving up singles to the first two batters he faced before an Edwin Encarnacion double play gave Toronto an early lead.
Nonetheless, after McCann took Drew Hutchinson deep to right in the bottom of the first and Brett Gardner followed him with another four-bagger (the 15,000th one in the franchise's 112 year history) in the fifth the right-hander had a one-run advantage, one which lasted forever yet almost disappeared in the visitors' half of the sixth.
Indeed, the Jays came dangerously close to scoring off Tanaka in that frame, putting two men on with one out to force the rookie's removal after 70 pitches.
Still, thanks to the two-strikeout heroics of Adam Warren and a three-run spot following the stretch the now 80-75 Yanks would eventually win the contest pretty handily, with that late trio crossing home thanks to a double by the red-hot Derek Jeter and a two-run shot by the aforementioned McCann.
