Major League Baseball

Tanaka pitches 8 innings as Yankees beat Twins 8-2

Published Jun. 18, 2016 2:32 a.m. ET

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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) Masahiro Tanaka pitched eight sparkling innings, Carlos Beltran hit a two-run homer and the New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins 8-2 on Friday night.

Tanaka allowed one run and seven hits, recovering nicely from his rough outing last Saturday when he gave up five runs at home against Detroit. He is 3-1 with a 1.32 ERA in seven road starts - the second-lowest road ERA in the AL and third-lowest in the majors.

The Japanese right-hander had all the run support he needed by the time he tossed his first pitch. Beltran connected against Pat Dean (1-3) in the first, and Rob Refsnyder and Didi Gregorius each drove in a run in the inning to give Tanaka an early 4-0 cushion.

The Yankees cruised the rest of the night to their second straight win after snapping a four-game skid Thursday. Tanaka (4-2) has gone at least six innings with one earned run or less in five straight road starts since May 5.

Dean, meanwhile, had an eight-hit, 68-pitch night against the team he grew up rooting for in Connecticut. Nearly every Yankees batter he faced had a hit by the time he was pulled in the third. He walked Chase Headley to load the bases with nobody out in the third before Gregorius' infield single scored Alex Rodriguez.

Eduardo Escobar drove in both of Minnesota's runs; he had an RBI double in the second and a homer off Nick Goody in the ninth.

PERKINS UPDATE

Twins closer Glen Perkins said he's hoping to have surgery as early as next week to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder, although nothing had been scheduled yet. Perkins met with reporters a day after the team announced their hard-throwing lefty would miss the rest of the season. The Twins had originally hoped Perkins' pain would subside with adequate rest and rehab.

''I rehabbed for two months,'' Perkins said. ''I don't want to keep rehabbing and start to push my timeline into next season. So the right time to do it is now.''

TRAINER'S ROOM

Twins: OF Danny Santana (hamstring) returned after missing 16 games on the DL. Manager Paul Molitor said he expects to use Santana more in the outfield, but added he also gives him options to pinch-hit and run for infielders. ... INF Miguel Sano (hamstring) hit a few balls into the seats during batting practice, and the team said he's making steady progress. Still general manager Terry Ryan said he doesn't have a return timetable, adding he wants to see his young slugger running at full speed. ... RHP Trevor May (back) is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Sunday.

UP NEXT

Yankees: RHP Michael Pineda makes his 14th start of the season on Saturday. He leads New York with 79 strikeouts and his strikeouts-to-innings pitched ratio (9.87) ranks fifth in the AL.

Twins: RHP Ricky Nolasco (3-4) makes his third career start against the Yankees and first since 2014.

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