After Masahiro Tanaka pitched his best game in a month, he noted the calendar now says September, which means it’s time for a Yankees team built to play into the postseason to play its best.
And on a day they welcomed Andrew McCutchen to the lineup and welcomed back Gary Sanchez, the best performance in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Detroit came from Tanaka.
The right-hander shook off a shaky first inning and allowed just one run in seven innings, which helped make Gleyber Torres’ two-run homer in the fifth enough for the victory.
Tanaka ended his evening with a flourish. With runners on second and third and no one out in the seventh, Tanaka retired three straight to keep the tying run 90 feet away.
“We really felt like we liked what we were seeing,’’ Aaron Boone said. “We felt like he had a lot left in the tank and was the best guy to get us through that situation.”
Tanaka got Dawel Lugo to ground to first and struck out Mikie Mahtook and Jim Adduci on splitters to end the inning.
The bullpen, which has had issues without Aroldis Chapman, got a scoreless eighth from Jonathan Holder before Dellin Betances bounced back from his nightmarish performance in Thursday’s loss and closed it.
Overall, it was a positive ending for the Yankees, despite McCutchen and Sanchez going a combined 0-for-7.
Before the game, general manager Brian Cashman said he was “hopeful for a strong finish here to find a way to be in the postseason in a strong position. … Let’s stay tuned and see how it plays [out].’’
As for Tanaka, he found trouble immediately, as two infield hits and a flare to left gave the Tigers bases loaded with no one out in the first.
The right-hander responded by getting Victor Martinez on a sacrifice fly to left that gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead, but Tanaka then got Niko Goodrum swinging before Ronny Rodriguez flied to left.
Detroit lefty Daniel Norris, who missed much of the season with a strained groin, didn’t allow a base runner until Miguel Andujar reached on a four-pitch walk leading off the bottom of the fifth.
The 25-year-old Norris was making just his third start in the majors this season, and he hadn’t gone longer than 4 ²/₃ innings in any of his previous five appearances. He struck out six in the first four innings.
Sanchez followed Andujar’s walk with a drive to the warning track in left-center, but Mahtook ran it down.
Torres came up next and smashed his 22nd homer of the season into the seats in left to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.
Norris left in the middle of the next at-bat, with Luke Voit at the plate, after a visit from the trainer. He was diagnosed with cramping in his left calf.
Drew VerHagen walked Voit, and after a Neil Walker fly out, he walked Brett Gardner and hit McCutchen to load the bases for Giancarlo Stanton, who popped to first.
The lack of clutch hitting didn’t cost the Yankees thanks to Tanaka, who finished the seventh inning for just the third time this year.
He has allowed two earned runs or fewer in seven of his past nine starts and impressed Boone in the latter part of the game.
“You really saw him reaching back,” Boone said of the seventh, when Tanaka threw the last of his 96 pitches. “He made some really good pitches with his fastball.”
His catcher concurred.
“I’ve seen that intensity from him many times, the way he fought that inning,’’ Sanchez said through an interpreter. “He knew he was up in his pitch count.”
Holder entered to start the eighth and gave up a leadoff single to Nicholas Castellanos, but Victor Martinez grounded into a double play and Goodrum whiffed.
Betances allowed just a two-out single to JaCoby Jones before earning his second save to help make up for what they didn’t get from the offense.
“I didn’t have the game I wanted, unfortunately, for it being my first one, but we got the win and that’s what’s most important,” McCutchen said.
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