Pitching matchup draws huge interest in native country with more than 50 Japanese media members covering Mariners-Yankees series finale.
NEW YORK — It never turned into a shutdown pitchers’ duel on Sunday at Yankee Stadium, but Hisashi Iwakuma and Masahiro Tanaka gave their teams and their country seven innings of solid work each.
In the 12th matchup between Japanese-born starting pitchers in major-league history, Tanaka was just a little better than his former teammate on the Rakuten Golden Eagles, allowing one run fewer and picking up the win in the Yankees’ 4-3 defeat of the Mariners.
Tanaka (1-0) allowed three runs on six hits with no walks and six strikeouts.