Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka, Gleyber Torres steal spotlight from Andrew McCutchen

Andrew McCutchen was hitless in his debut, but the Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers 2-1 at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

NEW YORK — There seemed to be an extra buzz at Yankee Stadium on Saturday.

It was obvious that the crowd of almost 43,000 showing up for this late-afternoon matinee were stoked about seeing new right fielder Andrew McCutchen make his Yankees debut and Gary Sanchez finally off the disabled list.

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A former MVP, McCutchen received loud cheers during pre-game introductions and his first at-bat. Sanchez, a star as a rookie in 2016 and an All-Star last year, was welcomed back warmly, too, after not hitting his weight in the first half and then being shelved for about 2 1/2 months with a groin injury.

The game was better than the sideshows.

Although McCutchen and Sanchez were hitless, Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka was a beast on the mound for seven innings, shortstop Gleyber Torres hit a two-run homer and the Yankees prevailed 2-1.

Two days after being acquired by the Yankees in a late-night Friday trade from the San Francisco Giants, McCutchen was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a hit batter debuting while playing right and leading off.

“I just wish I could have had a few hits, but other than that it was a good time,” McCutchen said. “I really enjoyed myself. The fans were great. It was loud. It was electric here. They definitely have a playoff atmosphere here.”

In Sanchez’ first game since July 23 and his fourth since June 24, his average dropped to .185 with an 0-for-4 showing, but his fourth-inning flyout carried to the left field warning track and his double play lineout in the sixth was hit hard.

“I thought he looked really good,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he caught great. I thought just from the (dugout watching), his pitch framing (was good). He had some big blocks in the dirt there late in the eighth inning with the tying run on third.

“I thought (he had) good at-bats. He hit a ball to the fence. He smokes a ball to third. I thought he looked pretty much on time at the plate. So I thought I really good first day for him even though he didn’t get any results at the plate.”

Tanaka fell behind in the first inning when soft hits loaded the bases and Victor Martinez hit a sacrifice fly, and it remained a 1-0 game until the fifth when the Yankees two hotshot rookies teamed up.

First, third baseman Miguel Andujar worked a leadoff walk to break up Tigers lefty Daniel Norris’ perfect game, then Torres put one in the left-field seats two batters later for his 22nd homer and, more importantly, a 2-1 Yankees lead.

“I almost forgot about his homer because the defense was so good,” Boone said. “He’s been special in the field and I thought he played a really good shortstop. He made a good play at second in the ninth on what looks like is kind of a simple play that’s not. So he’s impacted our club in a profound way on both sides of the ball all year.”

Tanaka (10-5) cruised from the second inning through the sixth before running into trouble in the seventh when Grayson Greiner hit a leadoff double and JaCoby Jones followed with a single to center to put runners on the corners with nobody out.

With his pitch count only at 80, Tanaka stayed in the game and he retired the next three Tigers in succession to get out of the seventh with the Yankees still up 2-1.

“We really felt like we liked what we were seeing,” Boone said. “It was a day where we were going to stay away from (relievers David Roberson) and (Zach) Britton and we just felt like he had a lot left in the tank. We felt like he was still making pitches and just felt like he was the best guy to get us through that situation.”

First, No. 9 hitter Dawel Lugo bounced to first, moving up both runners, then Tanaka struck out two straight to escape the jam, first Mikie Mahtook with the sac fly in play and then Jim Adduci to end the inning.

“In those types of situations you really have to go batter by batter, pitch by pitch,” Tanaka said. “I feel like I was able to do that. That’s how I was able to get out of that inning.”

From there, Jonathan Holder pitched a scoreless eighth and Dellin Betances closed out the Tigers in the ninth.

“I didn’t have the game that I wanted to have personally for it being my first one, but we got the win and that’s what’s most important,” McCutchen said.

NOTABLE

— Shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, acquired in a Friday night trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates, made his Yankees debut by playing short in the ninth inning.

— Betances pitched a scoreless ninth for the save after blowing a save opportunity in the series opener on Thursday night when he allowed two ninth-inning homers and three runs to turn a 7-5 Yankees lead into an 8-7 loss.

LOOKING AHEAD

Sunday, Detroit Tigers at Yankees, 1:05 p.m., YES. LHP Matthew Boyd (8-12, 4.22) vs. RHP Lance Lynn (8-9, 4.84).

Monday, Yankees at Oakland Athletics, 4:05 p.m., EST. LHP CC Sabathia vs. TBA.

Tuesday, Yankees at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 p.m., EST. LHP J.A. Happ vs. TBA.

Wednesday, Yankees at Oakland Athletics, 10:05 p.m., EST. RHP Luis Severino vs. TBA.

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