Tuesday night’s AL Wild Card game marked the highly anticipated playoff debut of New York Yankees ace Masahiro Tanaka.
Despite the Yankees losing 3-0 to the the Houston Astros, Tanaka’s performance was not the reason for the season-ending defeat.
While Tanaka’s final line of two runs, four hits, three strikeouts and three walks over five innings does not jump off the page, he certainly did enough to keep the Yankees in the game.
The first inning was Tanaka’s strongest of the night. He set down the Astros three best hitters, Jose Altuve, George Springer and Carlos Correa, in order.