Yes, Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka felt the way you did about his odd injury (VIDEO)

by Felix Pantaleón

Watch Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka throw his first bullpen since going on the disabled list with two strained hamstrings.

Watch video

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Masahiro Tanaka couldn’t believe it. Most people couldn’t, either.

Two strained hamstrings? At the same time? On the same sprint? How does that happen?

“In a sense, I was a little bit shocked, too,” Tanaka said via his translator before the Yankees faced the Rays at Tropicana Field on Sunday.

What’s wrong with Bird?

Tanaka had just thrown 26 pitches in his first bullpen session since his wacky injury vs. the Mets at Citi Field on June 8.

Tanaka strained both hamstrings sprinting from third base to home on Aaron Judge’s sacrifice fly. Tanaka scored, but was in visible pain after the play and was immediately pulled from the game.

He was put on the disabled list the next day. Jonathan Loaisiga was promoted from Double-A Trenton to take Tanaka’s place in the rotatino.

Tanaka was optimistic following his bullpen. He threw fastballs and breaking balls to bullpen catcher Radley Haddad as pitching coach Larry Rothschild and trainer Steve Donohue watched.

“It was my first bullpen since I hurt myself so I was being kind of a little bit cautious a little bit about it on the mound. But it turned out that I didn’t feel anything,” Tanaka said when asked if he still felt pain in his hamstrings.

When will he return from the DL?

“Nothing definitive at this point,” Tanaka said. “I think we’ll talk with trainers and the manager and see how we want to progress with it. No specific day. “

Tanaka is 7-2 with a 4.58 ERA in 13 starts. The 29-year-old has another two years and $45 million remaining on his contract.

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