Masahiro Tanaka allowed two hits over seven innings in his best start this season, Chris Young hit a grand slam and the New York Yankees routed the Tampa Bay Rays 9-0 Saturday night.
Tanaka (2-1) struck out eight and walked none. He gave up a single to David DeJesus leading off the first, then retired 15 in a row before Brandon Guyer's double opening the sixth. After failing to reach the sixth inning in his first two starts, Tanaka lowered his ERA from 7.00 to 3.94.
The Japanese star missed most of the second half of last season with a partially torn elbow ligament and had faced questions this spring about his decreased velocity.
David Carpenter and Branden Pinder completed a three-hitter, the first shutout for the Yankees since Sept. 22 against Baltimore.
Young homered off Grant Balfour in a seven-run seventh, his third career slam.
Brian McCann put the Yankees ahead in the sixth with his third hit, a two-run, two-out triple off Jake Odorizzi (2-1) that followed one-out walks to Brett Gardner and Alex Rodriguez.
Odorizzi gave up three runs and five hits in six-plus innings. He was the third AL pitcher in the last 100 years to start the season by winning consecutive starts of six-plus innings, two hits or fewer and one run or less.
