Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka damages shot for Wild Card start | Rapid reaction

The Yankees blew a 3-0 first-inning lead, then stage a big ninth-inning rally that falls short in their 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Wednesday night at Tropicana Field.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Yankees still aren’t close to picking a starting pitcher for next week’s American League Wild Card Game, manager Aaron Boone insisted once again Wednesday afternoon while talking with reporters in the visiting dugout at Tropicana Field.

A few hours later, the official field of three surely had dwindled down to two – All-Star left-hander J.A. Happ and All-Star righty Luis Severino.

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It would be hard to imagine Masahiro Tanaka getting the nod in a do-or-die game coming off consecutive poor outings.

Tanaka almost certainly killed his Wild Card start chances Wednesday night while not getting through five innings in the Yankees’ 8-7 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays.

No matter, Boone afterward maintained that Tanaka was still in the running, which isn’t surprising because was no way he’d say otherwise in a post-game presser before telling the pitcher in person.

“He’s very much in that mix and we know absolutely what he’s capable of, especially with his track record of pitching in big games,” Boone said.

Tanaka’s bad night almost was a footnote because the Yankees nearly pulled off a miracle comeback in the ninth inning. 

Down 8-3 after eight innings, the Yankees batting around against Rays closer Sergio Romo and had it down to a one-run game with two on and one out.

The Yanks, who just missed tying the game on a Luke Voit blast to deep center that was almost a grand slam and ended up being a two-run single, fell short though when Tyler Wade flied out to left for the second out and Miguel Andujar popped out to third base to end the game.

Tanaka (12-6) wasn’t terrible, but he certainly wasn’t his best allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits, one walk and one hit batter over four-plus innings.

Tanaka also made an ill-advised and very costly throwing error in the first inning when the Rays scored three runs to counter the three the Yankees had put up in the top of the inning.

The Rays took a 4-3 lead in the third on a leadoff homer by Tommy Pham, who blasted a 437-foot homer to center on a 91-mph fastball that was over the plate above the belt.

Tampa Bay, which used eight pitchers, added four insurance runs in the eighth with David Robertson and Justus Sheffield pitching and held on to improve to 6-3 against the Yanks at home and tie the season series 9-9 with Thursday’s matinee to go.

This down outing from Tanaka followed a stinker last week against Boston in which he gave up five runs in four innings in a no-decision at Yankee Stadium.

The common thread is the splitter, being able to get some good bite on that pitch,” Tanaka said. “After the Boston game I did work toward making some adjustments and tried to fix the issue, but it turned out the way it did. I’ll work on it. I’m not particularly sure where I’ll be pitching next, but I definitely need to get that pitch back.”

Heading into his start against Boston, Tanaka had pitched to a 1.80 ERA over his last six starts to earn strong consideration to start the Wild Card Game.

Happ, who has been the Yankees’ best and most consistent pitcher since joining them in a July 26 trade, now appears to be the favorite to face the Oakland Athletics in the AL Wild Card Game, which will be played next Wednesday.

The Yanks went into Wednesday’s game with a magic number of two to clinch home field for the Wild Card Game.

The Yankees handed Tanaka a quick 3-0 lead when Neil Walker hit a three-run, first-inning homer to dead center off Ryne Stanek, but the Rays had the game tied by the bottom of the first.

The Rays’ rally was keyed by the normally slick-fielding Tanaka making a terrible decision to throw off-balanced to second base on a squibbler between the mound and first with a run in, two on and one out. The throw sailed past shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria and into center field, scoring a run, and Tampa Bay had the game tied two batters later on a bases-loaded, infield single to deep third.

“After I caught the ball there, I should have stopped and looked at the situation,” Tanaka said. “That part was a mistake on me. I was being aggressive. Obviously, I wanted to get an out there at second base rather that first base. I should have gone to first base there.”

His pitching wasn’t much better, and afterward Tanaka seemed to realize he’s now out of the running for the Wild Card Game start.

“Obviously I think the last two games would not give a good impression, but it’s not something that I can take back,” Tanaka said. “So I’ll keep working day by day and try to get my pitches back.”

NOTABLE

–Making a strong case to regain his closer role, Aroldis Chapman made it three good outings in a row working a 1-2-3 seventh with two strikeouts. Since returning from a knee injury that had him on the DL for a month, the lefty allowed three runs over one inning in his first outing, then worked three shutout innings over his next three appearances, none of them as a closer.

— Catcher Gary Sanchez followed his two-hit, four-RBI game on Tuesday by going 0-for-3 with a strikeout and a walk. He also added to his major league passed ball lead by committing his 18th.

— Giancarlo Stanton, who was 1-for-4 with a walk, popped out to second base batting with two on and one out in the third and bounced into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play in the fifth batting with the bases loaded. He leads the Yanks with 94 RBI, but is hitting just .232 with runners in scoring position.

— Although feeling fine, Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres didn’t start for the second day in a row due to recent tightness in his left hip and groin area. He was inserted into Wednesday’s game as a pinch-hitter, then played shortstop the rest of the way. He struck out in both of his at-bats.

— Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier was hit in the right foot by Tanaka in the first inning, he left the game two innings later and his injury turned out to be a season-ending hairline fracture in his right foot.

— Rays third baseman Matt Duffy left after one inning with right thigh tightness.

LOOKING AHEAD

Thursday: Yankees at Tampa Bay Rays, 1:10 p.m., YES/MLB Network. LHP CC Sabathia (8-7, 3.77) vs. RHP Tyler Glasnow (2-7, 4.23).

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