Yankees tack on runs late, Tanaka solid as team wins sixth straight

The Yankees arrived in Cincinnati in the wee hours of Monday morning following a grueling 18 inning contest that secured them a series sweep of the defending champion Chicago Cubs. Even with the short turnover the Yankees had to be feeling good about themselves following the series victory and with this Yankee team featuring more youth than it has for many years, perhaps they were more well equipped to handle this situation.

Credit: John Minchillo AP Photo

With the team having used just about their whole bullpen Sunday night, the Yankees made a roster move for a fresh arm Monday afternoon, calling up Chad Green from Triple-A Scranton and sending down Rob Refsnyder. After such a taxing evening the Yankees did their pitchers a favor Monday night against the Reds, jumping on Reds starter Rookie Davis early in the game and giving Masahiro Tanaka a lead before he even took the mound.

Davis came into this game having struggled so far this year. Through 4 starts he posted a 1-1 record with a 7.36 ERA and the Yankees got to him right off the bat with three runs in the top of the first inning. It was the top of the order doing the damage with Brett Gardner reaching on an error to open the game, a single by the locked in Aaron Hicks and a walk to Jacoby Ellsbury setting the table for a two run single by Gary Sanchez and an RBI single by Didi Gregorious right after. In the second inning it was Aaron Hicks again who was right in the middle of it all, driving in Ronald Torreyes with a single. Gregorious tacked on another run with a sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth.

Credit: John Minchillo AP Photo

The Yankees looked to take control of this game in the 7th inning, scoring two runs off of Reds reliever Drew Storen. Storen hit three batters in the inning, including Chase Headley with the bases loaded to bring home the first run. Ronald Torreyes followed that up with an RBI single to bring home the second run of the inning. The Reds were able to close the gap in the bottom of the inning with a tiring Tanaka allowing a two run home run to Joey Votto following a two out walk to Zack Cozart. The Yankees put the game out of reach in the top of the eighth inning using the long ball. First it was Brett Gardner who crushed a fastball into the right field seats for a two run shot, extending his current hitting streak to 11 games. Two batters later it was Matt Holliday who deposited a ball over the dead center field wall for a solo shot to end the scoring for the evening.

Credit: John Minchillo AP Photo

The Yankees came into this game needing length out of their starter Masahiro Tanaka and that is exactly what they got. Tanaka didn’t dominate the Reds Monday night and seemed to run out of gas near the end, but he gave the Yankees what they needed, navigating through seven innings and allowing four runs (three earned) on 10 hits with one walk and six strikeouts. He did not have his best command tonight and often seemed fidgety and uncomfortable on the mound but he was able to give the Yankees the innings they needed without his best stuff, which is exactly what aces do.  

Tyler Clippard and Tommy Layne came on in the eighth and ninth innings to shut out the Reds and close out the 10-4 win for the Bombers. 

Winning Pitcher: Masahiro Tanaka (5-1, 4.36 ERA) 7 IP, 10 H, 4 R (3 ER), 1 BB, 6 K
Losing Pitcher: Rookie Davis (1-2, 7.58 ERA) 4.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R (4 ER), 3 BB, 4 K

Notables:
Brett Gardner: 1-5, HR (6), 2 R, 2 RBI, BB
Aaron Hicks: 2-5, 2 R, RBI
Matt Holliday: 2-4, HR (6), 3 R, RBI, BB
Gary Sanchez: 3-3, 2 RBI, BB
Didi Gregorious: 1-4, 2 RBI
Ronald Torreyes: 2-5, R, RBI

These two teams will finish this two game mini-series Tuesday night with first pitch at 7:10 PM on Fox Sports 1. The Yankees will send CC Sabathia (2-1, 5.45 ERA) who is looking to right the ship after a few bad outings in a row, while the Reds will send Tim Adelman (1-1, 4.22 ERA). 

Article by Matt Graziano  

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