TORONTO _ Masahiro Tanaka has never pitched a no-hitter, either during his Japan League or in the majors.
If not for one tricky bounce, Masahiro Tanaka might have taken a no-hitter into Sunday afternoon's eighth inning at Rogers Centre.
The very first batter that Tanaka faced, rookie Bo Bichette, opened the Blue Jays first inning with an infield hit that sure-handed third baseman Gio Urshela charged and bobbled before throwing late to first base.
That was Toronto's only base hit until Justin Smoak _ previously just 2-for-28 against Tanaka _ lashed a clean, ground single to right field, leading off the eighth.
With minimal offensive support, Tanaka pitched into the eighth inning and scored a 1-0 victory before 27,790 fans.
Permitted to begin the ninth inning, Tanaka gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Drury. Tanaka exited to a standing ovation behind the Yankees dugout as closer Aroldis Chapman entered.
Waging a 13-pitch battle against pinch-hitter Vladimir Guerrero Jr. _ an at-bat that included a home run distance foul ball _ Chapman induced a double play grounder.
Chapman had faced Guerrero's Hall of Fame father once in his career, striking him out.
After yielding a two-out single, Chapman struck out Cavan Biggio to end it. It was Chapman's 31st save of the season.
The Yankees scored their only run in the fifth, on back-to-back doubles by Gio Urshela and Brett Gardner to start the inning against Trent Thornton.
Entering the game, Tanaka had pitched to an 11.57 ERA over his previous four starts, and his overall ERA had soared from 3.21 to 4.93 since June 22.
Tanaka gave up three hits _ all singles _ on Sunday afternoon and the first place Yankees split the four-game series with Toronto and closed out a 5-2 road trip that began with a three-game sweep at Baltimore.
