NEW YORK – Masahiro Tanaka pitched a four-hitter for his first major league shutout and the New York Yankees got home runs from Yangervis Solarte and Mark Teixeira in a 4-0 victory over the Mets on Wednesday night.
Brian Roberts tripled twice and the Yankees finally beat their crosstown rivals after dropping six straight.
The Mets took all four Subway Series games last year and won two slugfests in the Bronx this week. Back home at spacious Citi Field, however, their bats went silent again.
Tanaka (6-0) had plenty to do with that, overwhelming the Mets with his vast assortment of pitches while spoiling Rafael Montero’s big league debut. Montero (0-1), the latest to arrive in a line of touted Mets pitching prospects, threw six competitive innings but was no match for the $155 million rookie from Japan.
“In some ways, this is a David-and-Goliath matchup. One guy’s never lost and the other guy’s never pitched,” Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said before the game. “So, it’s interesting. We’ll see how many rocks Rafael’s got.”
Not enough.
Tanaka is 34-0 combined in Japan and North America over his last 42 regular-season starts. He did lose Game 6 of the Japan Series last year — before earning a save in Game 7.
The right-hander struck out eight and walked none, throwing 76 of 114 pitches for strikes during his first complete game in the majors. He made it look easy most of the night in giving the Yankees’ taxed bullpen a much-needed break.
Tanaka even singled in the ninth inning for his first major league hit — giving him one more than Mets pitchers have in 64 at-bats this season.
Montero (0-1) allowed three runs and five hits. He struck out three and walked two after getting called up from Triple-A Las Vegas to step into the rotation slot previously held by Jenrry Mejia, who was moved to the bullpen.
The slim right-hander fanned Derek Jeter in the third for his first strikeout, but was hurt by his defense an inning earlier. With a runner on first and Tanaka on deck, left fielder Eric Young Jr. made an ill-advised dive in trying to catch Roberts’ sinking liner with two outs.
The ball got past Young and went all the way to the wall, allowing Solarte to score from first base as Roberts cruised into third with his first triple.
Solarte, the AL’s leading hitter at the beginning of the day, hit a solo homer to right in the fourth. A pleasant surprise as the replacement for suspended star Alex Rodriguez at third base, Solarte has 23 RBIs in his rookie season, tops on the team.
Teixeira sent Montero’s second pitch of the sixth to right-center for his eighth home run of the season and seventh in his last 15 games.
Jeter’s infield single, a dribbler that barely traveled 20 feet out in front of home plate, scored Brett Gardner in the seventh.
NOTES: Yankees RF Carlos Beltran (right elbow) was still unavailable but reserve outfielder Ichiro Suzuki (back) was feeling better, manager Joe Girardi said. … Injured LHP CC Sabathia had his sore right knee drained and the Yankees hope he can return as soon as his 15-day stint on the disabled list is up, Girardi said. Sabathia was examined by Dr. James Andrews and is receiving treatment. … The Mets plan to commemorate Jeter’s final regular-season Subway Series game Thursday. … The previous three starting pitchers to make their major league debuts for the Mets did not allow a run: Zack Wheeler, Collin McHugh and Matt Harvey. … A resurgent Ruben Tejada started at shortstop again over Wilmer Flores. “You’ve got to ride that wave,” manager Terry Collins said. “This kid has really put his mind to producing.” Collins said his coaches told him Tejada was “too hot to take out.”
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