Yankees Highlights: Masahiro Tanaka implodes as Bombers fall to White Sox

The Yankees had a chance to win a series and start a winning streak, but instead, they decided to lose to the White Sox. That’s another frustrating week in the books as the Yankees’ sluggish start to the 2019 season continues. They’ll get to stew in the glow of another loss to a less-talented team for two full days, as the Yankees don’t play again until Tuesday night against the Red Sox. Now, on to our winners and losers from today’s game.

Winner of the Game

Aaron Judge. On days where Judge wallops 500-foot home runs, it’s very easy to describe why he’s great. Yet while Judge’s greatness is largely defined by his slugging ability, it is not exclusively so, and he demonstrated that today. Judge reached bases three times, drove in and scored a run, and consistently did great work in right field. He made several excellent reads, strong throws, including an outfield assist that caught Yoan Moncada trying to stretch a single to a double, and a great leaping catch at the wall. That’s the mark of a superstar.

Loser of the Game

For the first three innings, it appeared Masahiro Tanaka would slot nicely into the former category rather than the latter. He entered the fourth having held the White Sox scoreless and recorded three strikeouts. A double, two walks, and a grand slam by Tim Anderson later, and a 2-0 lead flipped suddenly into a 4-2 deficit. Tanaka lost the zone again the next inning before getting pulled, finishing with four-plus innings pitched, seven hits, five runs, three walks, and six strikeouts. It was easily his worst start of the year.

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FanGraphs