TORONTO — Masahiro Tanaka pitched six sharp innings and the New York Yankees did fine without any pop from their sluggers, beating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2 on Friday night.

Giancarlo Stanton, who homered twice and doubled a day earlier in the opener, went 0 for 4. So did big hitters Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez. Yet the Yankees, under new manager Aaron Boone, improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2011.

Brandon Drury had two hits and two RBIs, Tyler Wade added a two-run double and Didi Gregorius had two extra-base hits and scored twice. Billy McKinney, promoted from Triple-A earlier in the day when outfielder Aaron Hicks went on the disabled list, singled in his first major league at-bat.

Tanaka (1-0) allowed one run on three hits in six innings, striking out eight without a walk. He retired his final 13 batters and is now 10-4 with a 2.86 ERA in 16 career starts against the Blue Jays.

Tommy Kahnle got four outs, David Robertson retired two batters and Aroldis Chapman pitched around Yangervis Solarte’s two-out RBI double to earn his first save.

Randal Grichuk hit his first home run for Toronto but struck out looking to end the game.

Advertisement

Stanton went 0 for 4 struck out twice and Judge fanned once and grounded into a pair of double plays.

Making his first start since last July 19, Blue Jays right-hander Aaron Sanchez allowed four runs and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. Sanchez (0-1) walked four and struck out two. The AL ERA leader in 2016, Sanchez was limited to eight starts last season because of persistent blister issues.

Gregorius hit a leadoff triple in the second but was thrown out at home when he ran on contact on Sanchez’s grounder to third. Sanchez later scored on Drury’s two-out double off the right field wall.

Grichuk tied it with a one-out drive in the bottom half, but the Yankees reclaimed the lead in the fourth when Gregorius doubled and scored on Drury’s single.

Wade added his wo-run double in the sixth.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

Advertisement

NATIONALS 2, REDS 0: Max Scherzer struck out 10 in six innings and Washington, in its first game with Dave Martinez as a major league manager, began defense of its NL East title by winning at Cincinnati.

Bryce Harper of the Nationals got two hits, but his string of five straight opening days with a home run came to an end.

A day after this opener was postponed because of rain, Scherzer (1-0) picked up where he left off. The winner of the last two NL Cy Young Awards gave up five hits, walked one and permitted one runner past first base. The Reds put runners on second and third in the fourth but Scherzer struck out Tucker Barnhart to escape.

Scherzer posted his 65th career game with double-digit strikeouts. The only hitter who did real damage against him was Scooter Gennett, who finished 4 for 4 with a double.

INTERLEAGUE

PIRATES 13, TIGERS 10: Gregory Polanco hit a three-run homer in the 13th inning to lift Pittsburgh at Detroit – about an hour after the Tigers spilled onto the field to celebrate what they thought was a game-winning hit of their own.

Nicholas Castellanos was called safe at home in the bottom of the 10th for the Tigers, but a replay review took the run away and the teams played on. Polanco’s drive to right-center on a 3-0 pitch from Alex Wilson (0-1) finally gave the Pirates a comfortable lead – or as comfortable as could be on a day in which both teams scored four runs in the ninth.

Detroit put two on in the 13th, but Steven Brault (1-0) was able to hold on and finish his third scoreless inning of relief.

Detroit’s franchise-record streak of six straight wins in season openers was snapped.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.