Masahiro Tanaka’s location vanished in the third inning when Chase Headley’s throwing error fueled a five-run rally. Didi Gregarious made a base-running blunder in the eighth frame. And Drew Hutchison smothered the Yankees’ bats across six innings.
Added up, those indiscretions turned Opening Day at Yankee Stadium into a stinker that resulted in a hard-to-look-at 6-1 loss to the Blue Jays in front of an announced crowd of 48,469.
The game also marked Alex Rodriguez’s re-entry into baseball after being suspended last year for being involved in the Biogenesis mess. Greeted by a solid ovation, Rodriguez went 1-for-2 with a walk as the DH.
Headley’s error hurt, Gregorius’ brain lock killed a potential rally late and the bats that got Kevin Long fired didn’t make noise other than Brett Gardner’s home run leading off the sixth and finished with just three hits.
Yet the biggest culprit was Tanaka, the $175 million investment who blamed location and bad counts — and not the fact that he topped out at 93 mph — for the spanking he received.
“You want to come out on Opening Day and play great and hit and pitch and play defense,’’ catcher Brian McCann said. “Just didn’t happen. We didn’t really do any of those things.’’
Especially, Tanaka in the third inning.
“I was behind in the count and that gives the advantage to the hitter,’’ said Tanaka, who has explained the mid-90s fastball he featured last season before suffering a small tear in the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow might not surface this season. “I don’t look at today’s results as all bad. I think if I am able to make adjustments I should be able to get back in the form that I was in.’’
Tanaka whiffed three of the seven batters he faced in the opening two frames before paying the price for falling behind in the third when he issued a four-pitch walk to No. 9 hitter Devon Travis that put runners on first and second with no outs.
Jose Reyes’ bunt to Headley turned into a run and put runners at second and third with no outs. Russell Martin followed with a two-run single to right and Edwin Encarnacion smoked a 2-1 fastball clocked at 93 mph for a two-run homer.
“When he gets behind, he has to locate better,’’ Joe Girardi said of his ace, who gave up five runs [four earned], five hits, walked two and fanned five in four innings.
As alarming as those numbers are, pitching coach Larry Rothschild wasn’t too concerned because he said Tanaka is still building arm strength after a spring training in which his program was light at the beginning.
“He is still building arm strength and it will be a work in progress,’’ Rothschild said. “As long as he stays healthy he will pitch as well as he has in the past. I am not going to make excuses, he is capable of pitching better as long as he is healthy.’’
As for the bats, they were ill, collecting just the three hits off three Blue Jays hurlers.
The only run Hutchison gave up was Gardner’s leadoff homer to right in the sixth, the right-hander’s final inning. He allowed three hits, walked two and struck out three. Only twice against Hutchinson — with two on and two out — did the Yankees have a batter at the plate with a runner in scoring position. Headley ended the threat by grounding out into the teeth of a shift.
Then there was Gregorius’ blunder that ended the eighth with the Yankees trailing, 6-1, two on and Mark Teixeira at the plate.
“[Girardi] told me in that situation it’s not the time to run,’’ said Derek Jeter’s replacement, who went 0-for-2 and got hit with a pitch on the right elbow. “I told him it was my mistake and I’ll never do it again.’’