Why signs point to Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka going on DL

Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka suffered injuries to both of his hamstrings running from third base to home on a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning of a 4-1 win over the Mets on Friday night at Citi Field.

NEW YORK — The facial expression that Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka had talking about his Friday night double-hamstring injury was telling.

He looked worried.

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He also admitted still feeling sore after a Yankees’ 4-1 win over the Mets in which he was forced to leave after getting hurt scoring from third base on a game-tying, sixth-inning sacrifice fly.

“I feel it right now,” Tanaka said through Yankees Japanese interpreter Shingo Horie. “It’s pretty tight,”

Before Tanaka talked to reporters, Yankees manager Aaron Boone expressed hope in his post-game interview that the No. 2 starter’s injury was just a cramp and that a re-evaluation on Saturday would provide optimism that he’d make his next scheduled start Thursday at Yankee Stadium against the Tampa Bay Rays.

But with Tanaka still hurting after the game, it seems likely that this injury will lead to a 10-day disabled list stint that at the very least will force him to miss one start.

“I think we’ll probably have a clearer picture (Saturday),” said Tanaka, who will get an MRI if doctors determine on Saturday that it’s necessary.

Tanaka was a hitter for the second time this season because this was his second road interleague game start.

Hitting eighth ahead of second baseman Gleyber Torres, Tanaka lined out to center field his first time up facing Mets ace Jacob deGrom in the third.

Batting again with one out and nobody on in the sixth with the Mets up 1-0, Tanaka hit a weak grounder to first that was bobbled by Adrian Gonzalez for an error.

Tanaka advanced to second on a hit by Torres, then to third on a walk by Brett Gardner. Next up was Judge to hit with the bases loaded and one out, and he hit a flyball to medium right that was toward the line.

Off the bat, it looked like Tanaka had no shot to score because the flyball wasn’t deep and Mets right fielder Jay Bruce has a strong arm. Also, Tanaka is a slow runner.

“I was shallow, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to go or not, but our third base coach (Phil Nevin) kind of shouted, ‘Tag up,’ so that’s what I did,” Tanaka said.

Tanaka probably would have been a dead duck if Bruce had made a good throw, but it was up the first-base line and he scored standing up.

But while running, both of his hamstrings tightened up, and very quickly Tanaka was headed to the clubhouse with trainer Steve Donohue and out of the game.

This was the second time in four seasons that Tanaka got hurt running at Citi Field. In September 2015, he suffered a Grade 1 hamstring strain bunting into a fielder’s choice while trying to move up a runner, and that time he missed a start.

Despite that injury and his new one, Tanaka says that he’s not worried about having to hit a few times each season.

“You don’t worry about that going into the game, but I am surprised it happened,” said Tanaka, who is 1 for 24 with a single, walk, sacrifice and 12 strikeouts as a hitter in five big-league seasons.

It happened, and because Tanaka is so important to the 41-18 Yankees, they’ll surely proceed with extreme caution.

Earlier this season, catcher Gary Sanchez missed a couple of games after suffering a cramp.

Assuming this is worse, and because Tanaka is dealing with issues to both hamstrings, it would be hard to imagine him not being shut down at least for a week or so. After all, minor hamstring injuries can and often do turn into something far more serious, and with pitchers, they can lead to changes in mechanics to prevent pain … and then an arm injury.

Tanaka has a high 4.48 ERA in 13 starts and he’s given up 16 homers in 72 2/3 innings – that’s tied for third most in the majors – but his record is 7-2 and he still has some of the best stuff of anyone in baseball, especially his splitter.

Tanaka’s start Friday night was his best of the season, as he allowed a leadoff homer to Brandon Nimmo and then no hits the rest of his work night in a one-run, five-inning outing in which he struck out eight and walked one.

“He was great,” Boone said. “After the leadoff homer, he was dialed in. I thought his splitter was really, really strong. He was cruising. We had no plans to remove him. I thought he had potentially a couple of more innings in him. As far as throwing the baseball, it was really encouraging for Masa.”

But now he’s hurt, and if the Yankees aren’t careful, this could turn into more serious.

“He’s obviously a big part of our team,” said Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner, whose two-run homer in the eighth broke a 1-1 tie. “Hopefully whatever he’s got going on is nothing serious. Hopefully we’re not without him too long if any time at all. We’ll see.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.