Tanaka, relievers no-hit Tigers at spring training

New York's Masahiro Tanaka throws a pitch in the first inning against Detroit at spring training on Friday. | USA TODAY / VIA REUTERS

LAKELAND, FLORIDA – No runs once again off Masahiro Tanaka. No hits off him or the New York Yankees’ bullpen, either.

Tanaka and two relievers combined on a spring training no-hitter against the Detroit Tigers in a 3-0 win Friday.

New York manager Joe Girardi didn’t keep the lineup card as a souvenir, but still appreciated the effort.

“I’m happy for our guys,” Girardi said. “It’s fun. Obviously, it means more if it’s the regular season, but still it’s a no-hitter.”

Tanaka, scheduled to start on Opening Day, struck out six and walked two in 4⅓ innings. The ace has thrown 13⅓ scoreless innings in exhibition play.

“I felt that I wasn’t at my best, but considering that I still was able to put up some zeroes, so that part satisfied me,” Tanaka said through a translator. “The slider and the cut fastball, the location of it, I felt like I was all over the place. The command of those can be better.”

After Chasen Shreve got the final two outs in the fifth, Jordan Montgomery finished up with four perfect innings. Montgomery has emerged as a candidate for a bullpen spot and could get into the mix for the open fifth starter spot.

Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said “there was pride involved” in trying to avoid being no-hit, even in an exhibition game.

“You don’t want to get no-hit, whether it’s spring training or regular season, Wiffle ball in the backyard,” Ausmus said. “It was on the radar.”

J.D. Martinez, Nick Castellanos and Justin Upton were among the Detroit regulars who started. Ausmus noted that players who worked out early and left the ballpark before the game ended “might not even know at this point” what had taken place.

Tigers starter Michael Fulmer gave up three runs in his 3⅓ innings.

Meanwhile, the Miami Marlins said they are still waiting to learn the extent of third baseman Martin Prado’s hamstring injury.

Playing for Team Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic, Prado hurt himself running out a grounder in the sixth inning of Wednesday’s loss to Team USA.

Prado immediately left the game and didn’t return.