Japanese right-hander Masahiro Tanaka threw a three-hitter for his first complete game shutout of the season as his New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 on Tuesday.
Tanaka (8-2) retired the first 12 batters before he allowed a leadoff single to C.J. Cron and walked Choi Ji Man to put runners on first and second in the fifth. But he struck out the next batter and got out of the jam by grounding Mallex Smith into a double play.
He yielded two more hits -- a single in the sixth and a double in the seventh -- but otherwise kept the Rays' bats silent at Tropicana Field with nine strikeouts, earning his third career shutout and 60th win in the majors.
"It's been a while since I had such good ball control," said Tanaka, who threw 74 of his 105 pitches for strikes.
"That's what leads to good pitching like this. I almost got myself in trouble with runners on base but I'm glad I escaped damage," he said.
Austin Romine, a replacement for injured catcher Gary Sanchez, drove in two runs, one on a run-scoring groundout and another on a sacrifice fly, both off Yonny Chirionos (0-2).
(Tanaka, left, and Romine celebrate winning the game)
The 29-year-old Tanaka, who is in his fifth season with the Yankees, was scheduled to start Sunday night but the Subway Series finale against the New York Mets was postponed due to rain. "I was able to make minor adjustments because my start was pushed back two days," he said.
Tanaka is the first Japanese pitcher to record a complete game shutout this season. The last time Tanaka pitched a shutout was in April last year against the Boston Red Sox.
In Philadelphia, Kenta Maeda started for the Los Angeles Dodgers but he surrendered two homers and missed out on an eighth win of the season in a 7-4 defeat to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Maeda allowed four runs and six hits in seven innings of work, striking out seven and walking none. He was not involved in the decision in the 16-inning marathon.
"It's frustrating that I pitched well but I wasn't able to persevere through my outing," Maeda said.
Phillies third baseman Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer off Enrique Hernandez (0-1) in the bottom of the 16th to end the 5 hour, 55 minute game that featured a 18 pitchers.
In Anaheim, California, Shohei Ohtani flied out in his only pinch-hit appearance in the ninth as the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 4-2.
