NEW YORK — Masahiro Tanaka’s career at Yankee Stadium launched Wednesday night with a Japanese pop song blaring on the loudspeaker as he warmed up for the first inning. Momoiro Clover Z, a female quintet, created the tune, not yet commercially released, specifically for Tanaka. Like Tanaka, the act is a Japanese sensation. And like Momoiro Clover Z, Tanaka made his presence vociferously known in the Bronx.
In a repeat of his major-league debut Friday against the Blue Jays, early turmoil tarnished an otherwise dominant outing opposite the Orioles. Tanaka surrendered a trio of runs on one swing in the second inning — a three-run home run off Jonathan Schoop’s lumber — and then proceeded to stifle another deep American League East lineup.
But he exited after seven innings and watched the Yankees’ temporary closer allow two runs in the ninth inning to break a tie in a 5-4 loss before an announced crowd of 39,412 on a brisk night.
The closer until David Robertson returns from the disabled list, Shawn Kelley entered the game in the ninth inning in a non-save situation with the game tied at three. He began his appearance by giving up four hits on sliders: a leadoff double to Ryan Flaherty, a single to Schoop, a go-ahead single to Nick Markakis, and a single to Delmon Young.
Three of the four came with two strikes and slugger Chris Davis later added a sacrifice fly to drive in Schoop and double the Orioles’ advantage.
“I feel like they did a good job of getting the barrel to some good pitches,” Kelley said. “But if I bounce some of those balls maybe they’re swing-and-misses or groundballs.”
Pitching on four days’ rest for the first time in his major-league career, the results of Tanaka’s first turn through the Orioles lineup were a carbon copy to his opening round against the Blue Jays in his major-league debut Friday: three runs on four hits. And like Friday, when Melky Cabrera blasted a leadoff home run, a long home run accentuated the output.
Wednesday, Schoop provided the damage in the second inning. With runners on the corners, Schoop, a light-hitting infielder, crushed Tanaka’s slider, hanging over the plate at 83 mph, for a three-run home run down the left-field line.
“Throughout the game I think I was able to battle, but with two runners on, a home run to the ninth batter — that I can’t do,” Tanaka said.
The right-hander, featuring a wicked splitter at his disposal, rebounded from the bumpy beginning to not grant another run after Schoop’s blast. He induced 22 swings-and-misses and retired 12 of the final 14 batters he faced.
Tanaka (1-0, 3.21 ERA) completed his seven-inning outing with 10 strikeouts and a walk, his first free pass in pinstripes and the first a Yankees starter surrendered in 31 1/3 innings, dating back to last Thursday, a span of five games.
He threw 101 pitches, around the soft limit the Yankees have imposed on their starters, though Tanaka, recognized for his high pitch counts in Japan, admitted he could have pitched longer.
The performance leaves the Yankees’ $175 million investment with an impressive résumé through two career starts: 18 strikeouts to one walk in 14 innings.
“I think it’s too early to make an assessment through two games,” Tanaka said. “I feel like I have to go out there and perform.”
The Yankees (4-5) began cutting into the three-run deficit immediately. Leading off the bottom half of the frame, Carlos Beltran smashed a home run into the second deck in right field for his first homer as a Yankee. Two batters later, Kelly Johnson launched another solo home run, his second in two days, off Orioles starter Miguel Gonzalez (0-1, 9.64 ERA).
Beltran, who went 3-for-3, sparked another productive sequence in the fourth with a leadoff double down the right-field line. He later scored when Alfonso Soriano grounded out to shortstop to tie the game.
The Yankees’ run manufacturing stalled there despite two prime late-game opportunities. In the eighth inning, Brett Gardner led off with a double. Derek Jeter then dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance Gardner to second for the meat of the Yankees order.
But Jacoby Ellsbury popped out in foul territory and Beltran was intentionally walked to bring up the scuffling Brian McCann against left-hander Brian Matusz. McCann skied a long flyball to the warning track to complete another hitless night and continue a frustrating offensive start to the season that has yet to include an extra-base hit.
“I would have done the same thing,” McCann said of the Orioles’ decision to purposely walk Beltran. “I knew it was coming. It was weird because I don't feel bad at the plate and you look up and you're just not getting the hits.”
The Yankees then nearly mounted a comeback off Orioles closer Tommy Hunter in the ninth inning. Down two, Soriano ignited the Yankees’ ninth-inning rally with a leadoff double. Johnson followed with a single, pushing Soriano to third base.
Brian Roberts deposited a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Soriano, but Yangervis Solarte abruptly ended the game by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play to conclude the contest.
“We were one hit away from winning the ball game, but it didn’t happen,” Beltran said. “We battled, but we couldn’t come through.”