Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka owns Angels, Shohei Ohtani in win

by Felix Pantaleón

Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka struck out his fellow Japanese star Shohei Ohtani twice as the Yankees beat the Angels, 3-1, at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani was able to duck pitching to the Yankees. He wasn’t able to run from his fellow Japanese native and megastar.

Bet Ohtani wished he took the day off.

Masahiro Tanaka owned Ohtani and the Angels as the Yankees nabbed a 3-1 win at Yankee Stadium on Sunday.

Tanaka struck out Ohtani twice and walked him once as Ohtani walked to the plate with the same greeting he got all series: Loud boos.

Ohtani could have avoided needing to face Tanaka, the only active Japanese player who rivals his starpower, by signing with the Yankees in the offseason. Instead, Ohtani ran from playing in a big market for the comfort of the considerably quieter life that comes with playing for the Angels, the Mets of Los Angeles.

Tanaka finished with six strong, one-run innings — his best start in almost a month. He improved to 6-2 and his ERA fell from 4.95 to 4.62.

The Yankees rebounded from a 11-4 loss Saturday to win the series, 2-1. They took Friday’s victory, 2-1, and improved to 33-16. They woke up two games behind the Red Sox in the American League East.

The Yankees gave Tanaka a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

Aaron Judge started it with a first-pitch line-drive single to center. Then with one out, Gary Sanchez drew a five-pitch walk in an at-bat that included a wild pitch that moved Judge to second base. Then Richards walked Didi Gregorius on four pitches to load the bases.

Another four pitch walk, this time to Aaron Hicks to walk in the first run of the game, and Richards was out for reliever Jose Alvarez, who fell behind Greg Bird, 2-1, and hit him with a 90-mph fastball to force in a second run. Miguel Andujar’s grounder to shortstop brought in the inning’s last run.

That lasted until Andrelton Simmons crushed a solo shot to left field with one out in the sixth inning, making it 3-1 Yankees.

Tanaka also made a flashy stop on a comeback to start a double play that ended the fourth inning.

He struck out eight — one shy of his season high — and walked three batters while limiting the Angels to just three hits.

TANAKA VS. OHTANI

First inning: Tanaka strikes out Ohtani swinging on a full-count splitter.

Fourth inning: Tanaka falls behind Ohtani, 2-0, before walking him in five pitches.

Sixth inning: Tanaka falls behind Ohtani, 1-0. He comes back to strike out Ohtani swinging in three pitches, the finisher another splitter at the bottom of the zone.

YOU SHOULD KNOW

Greg Bird picked up his first hit of the season, a single to left field in the second inning. Bird made his 2018 debut Saturday. Recovery from surgery to remove a right ankle bone spur had him out all season.

The Yankees’ Nos. 3-6 hitters — Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez, Didi Gregorius and Aaron Hicks — finished 0-for-16. Stanton was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts, all coming with at least a runner on base.

David Robertson (seventh) and Dellin Betances (eighth) each threw scoreless innings before Aroldis Chapman nabbed his 11th save — though two wild-pitch fastballs moved a runner from first base to third.

INJURY REPORT

Hot-hitting rookie Gleyber Torres didn’t start. The second baseman was held out of the starting lineup with a sore knee he injured in Friday’s win, trying to make a diving catch. Boone said Torres could have played but was sat due to precautionary reasons. Torres entered late in the game and in the ninth inning, he flew out to deep center field.

NEXT

Monday: Yankees righty Domingo German (0-2, 5.59 ERA) vs. Tigers righty Justin Verlander (6-2, 1.08 ERA) at Yankee Stadium.

Tuesday: Yankees lefty CC Sabathia (2-1, 3.55 ERA) vs. Astros righty Charlie Morton (7-0, 2.04 ERA) at Yankee Stadium.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.