DETROIT _ Staked to an early seven-run lead, Masahiro Tanaka didn't have to be razor sharp in returning to the Yankees' rotation on Tuesday night.
Still, through six innings, Tanaka pitched as if he'd been locked in a close game at Comerica Park. But Gary Sanchez and the Yankees kept the pressure on, running off with a 13-4 win against the Tigers before 27,818 fans.
The Yankees (67-57) scored seven runs off lefty starter Matthew Boyd, supplying Tanaka with nice welcome-back gift after skipping one start.
Tanaka had 12 days of rest, placed on the 10-day disabled list with right shoulder inflammation. But Tanaka had essentially described his condition as a classic, late summer tired arm.
Before Tanaka's revival had officially begun, the Yankees tallied three times in the first inning _ highlighted by Gary Sanchez's monstrous two-run shot to left, the first of two home runs.
Sanchez added a two-run blast in the ninth.
According to MLB Statcast, the ball was estimated to have traveled 493 feet _ the second-longest homer of the year, behind Aaron Judge's 495-foot smash against Baltimore on June 11 at Yankee Stadium.
And Judge saw his record 37-game streak with at least one strikeout end on Tuesday night. With the Yanks leading 11-1 in the seventh, manager Joe Girardi removed Judge for pinch-hitter Jacoby Ellsbury.
Batting cleanup Judge walked his first three times up on Tuesday before delivering an RBI single in the fifth.
Girardi flipped Sanchez and Judge in Tuesday's order, with Sanchez batting third. Judge's 37-game K streak was an MLB record for position players.
After losing two of three games to the AL East-leading Red Sox at Fenway Park, all the Yankees seemed to take out a weekend's worth of offensive frustration out on Detroit pitching.
Todd Frazier's two-run triple came during a four-run third inning, ending the night for Boyd, who gave up seven hits and three walks in 21/3 innings.
With a double and single in his first two at-bats, Didi Gregorius now has 11 multi-hit games in 11 of his last 19 road games. And his two hits off Boyd pushed his batting average to .417 (15-for-36) against left-handed pitching since July 19.
Frazier had a three-hit night, while designated hitter Tyler Austin had RBI (single, sac fly) in his first two times up. And following Brett Gardner's leadoff triple in the seventh, Aaron Hicks belted a two-run homer to right to open a 10-run lead.
Tanaka gave up a two-run homer to Nicholas Castellanos in the Tigers' seventh. But by then, the right-hander had settled any notions about how he'd respond from his "dead-arm" period.
On Aug. 9, at Toronto, Tanaka walked a season-high five batters in four innings _ a dull effort that prompted him to complain a day later about arm fatigue.
Though the concentration of the achy feeling was in his shoulder, Tanaka had offered that he felt an "extra soreness" overall following the Toronto start.
"I think our plan right now is to rest it for a little bit, (a) couple of days and then just get back on the (throwing) program," Tanaka said through an interpreter after being examined. "I'm not looking to be away for a long time."
In a season that hasn't seen much go right for Tanaka, he was accurate about the cure for his arm ailment and his quick return to the mound.
In seven innings on Tuesday, Tanaka yielded three runs on six hits, with no walks and four strikeouts.
Tanaka (9-10) threw 90 pitches and emerged with his first-ever victory against the Tigers (54-70) in five career starts. Now, the only AL clubs that Tanaka has never defeated are Houston, Kansas City and Texas.
Castellanos connected for an inside-the-park homer in the ninth off Chasen Shreve, but the Yankees had the game well in hand.
