And you were worried about the Yankees in general because of a senses-numbing 1-4 start and Masahiro Tanaka in particular because of his initial awful effort.
In what manager Joe Girardi labeled a "really important" game, the Yankees received an effective, although unspectacular, start from Tanaka whose radar-gun numbers became near moot for one night as he received a 7-spot in the first inning. So with enough pitching and an awakened 16-hit, three-homer offense, the Yankees beat Boston, 14-4, Sunday at Yankee Stadium on national TV, ending a season-opening homestand at 2-4.
"It's an important game. You don't want to start the season 1-5, be 1-5 on your home field where your club is supposed to be built around, 1-5 in your division," Girardi said before the finale in a two-series stretch with division-rivals Toronto and Boston. "You don't want those things. It's really important. I don't know if after 162 games you'll look back say this is the most important game of the year."
OK, so it was the Yankees' most important game Sunday.
And they immediately put their imprint on it. The seven-run first inning uprising, which represented more runs than they had scored in any game to date, featured a three-run double by Alex Rodriguez plus back-to-back home runs by Chase Headley and Stephen Drew.
Yeah, honest. Stephen Drew.
All of that put Tanaka (1-1) in near cruise control as he became the first Yankees starter this season to learn what a lead feels like. It also gave the Yankees their first lead, period, since the ninth inning Wednesday.
Tanaka mixed pitches and was virtually flawless through three innings. He ran into trouble in the fourth inning, some of it self-induced through a couple walks and two wild pitches, some of it the result of an error by Drew (no one said the Yanks were perfect).
"The key is strikes with his off-speed and using his fastball effectively," Girardi said of Tanaka's strength. "That's the key for him. It's been the key since he's been here. And that's what you look for."
He saw it with splitters, cutters, fastballs, sliders. Tanaka's anxiety began when, up 7-0, he walked David Ortiz leading off the fourth. Two wild pitches and a Hanley Ramirez sacrifice fly later and the shutout was gone. But not the trouble. Pablo Sandoval singled, Mike Napoli walked then Drew at second threw high and poorly to shortstop Didi Gregorius on a potential double play. Xander Bogaerts doubled in two.
But Tanaka sidestepped additional damage with swinging strikeouts by Ryan Hanigan and Mookie Betts in his 38-pitch inning. Tanaka topped out at 93 mph (once). He did not conjure memories of Nolan Ryan but it was good enough. He was done after five innings, three earned runs and 97 pitches. Girardi had forecast "right around 100 shouldn't be an issue."
Tanaka, whose ERA came "down" to 7.00 — he gave up four earned runs in four innings against Toronto — also yielded a solo homer to Ramirez in the fifth.
But by then, the Yankees had upped their total to 10, getting a two-run single by Brett Gardner and a sac fly by Mark Teixeira in the fourth. Teixeira's RBI ended the dismal night for Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz (1-1). The Yankees added three in the sixth on Rodriguez's RBI walk, an RBI hit by Headley and Drew's sac fly. Brian McCann homered leading off the eighth.
The Yankees used Buchholz for a first-inning punching bag. Jacoby Ellsbury walked and went to third on a perfect hit-and-run single by Gardner. Carlos Beltran's force play made it 1-0. Teixeira walked and then Boston caught whatever afflicted the Yankees on Saturday. Napoli botched McCann's bouncer to load the bases for Rodriguez who turned the first pitch he saw into a laser into the left-center gap. That made it 4-0.
But like a late-night commercial, "Wait there's more…"
Headley launched his second homer — and second of the series — into the second deck in right. Drew followed with his shot into the right-center bleachers. Bam, 7-0.
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