NEW YORK -- Masahiro Tanaka throws a splitter that drops out of sight, ranks among the major league leaders in many prized pitching categories and appears, so far, to be worth every penny the New York Yankees paid to sign him. His place in those pinstripes? Tanaka seems to have a different take than most everyone else. "No, I dont feel that Im the ace," he said Saturday through a translator. Tanaka shut down Joe Mauer and the other Minnesota hitters while lowering his AL-best ERA to 2.06, and Brian McCann lined a go-ahead double in the eighth inning Saturday that sent the New York Yankees over the Twins 3-1. Tanaka (8-1) permitted only an unearned run in eight innings. The heralded rookie from Japan gave up four singles, just two leaving the infield. Tanaka struck out nine, giving him 88 in 78 2-3 innings. The 25-year-old righty is fanning more batters in the big leagues than he did back home before getting a $155 million, seven-year contract from the Yankees. "Its probably the guys here havent seen me," he said. Tanaka walked two and bounced two wild pitches. But he was especially sharp against Mauer, the three-time AL batting champion. Mauer, who faced Tanaka in spring training, struck out on three pitches in the first inning with a runner on third. Mauer fanned on four pitches with runners on second and third in the third, then tapped into a double play and later grounded out. "Guys said the ball was just disappearing," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "His splitter is unbelievable, hes got all the pitches." "And we also saw that hes very competitive. A few times you could see him yelling at himself, hes very competitive," he said. Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira left in the sixth because of soreness in his surgically repaired right wrist, the same problem that forced him to miss three games this week. Manager Joe Girardi said Teixeira was expected to miss two more games. "Our feeling, right now, is that its going to be short term," Girardi said. It was 1-all when Jacoby Ellsbury singled with one out in the Yankees eighth off Brian Duensing (1-2). Ellsbury stole second, and continued to third when catcher Josmil Pintos throw from his knees went into centre field for an error. In light showers, Brian Roberts walked and McCann hit an RBI double over leaping first baseman Chris Parmelee into the right-field corner. Following a 34-minute rain delay, Kelly Johnson drove in a run with an infield single. David Robertson pitched the ninth for his 12th save. Minnesota has lost seven of nine. Yangervis Solarte homered for the Yankees first run. Tanaka and Twins starter Kevin Correia both escaped early trouble, and nobody pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning until the seventh. Brian Dozier grounded the first pitch of the game off Johnsons glove at third base for an error, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on Josh Willinghams two-out single. Correia got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the first when he struck out Teixeira and got McCann to bounce into a double play. Solarte homered in the fourth, giving the rookie infielder a team-leading 26 RBIs. Solarte singled with two outs and the slow-footed McCann on second in the sixth. McCann was held at third as strong-armed right fielder Oswaldo Arcia fielded the ball and threw home, and Solarte was thrown out trying to take second. Arcia had two assists in Friday nights 6-1 win. NOTES: Twins rookie CF Danny Santana was out of the lineup, a day after he needed seven stitches to close a cut on his left eyelid. He was hurt when his batting helmet flew off during a headfirst slide and bounced up to hit him in the face. "We have to be guarded here," Gardenhire said. ... Gardenhire won a replay challenge in the third, and Eduardo Escobar wound up with an infield hit. ... Former Yankees All-Star Phil Hughes (5-1, 3.23) faces his former team Sunday. Rookie Chase Whitley (0-0, 2.57) starts for New York. ... Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh and Derick Brassard of the New York Rangers were in the crowd, and got big cheers when shown on the videoboard. The Rangers are in the Stanley Cup final. ... The Twins were trying for their fourth straight win at Yankee Stadium, having won their final two games at the park last year and again Friday. The last time Minnesota won four in a row in the Bronx was 1968. Derwin James Youth Jersey . -- Former Penn State coach Joe Paterno was admitted to the hospital Friday for observation due to minor complications from cancer treatments, his family said. Doug Flutie Chargers Jersey .2 million deal for the upcoming season with right-hander Garrett Richards.The person spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because the announcement hadnt been made. http://www.prochargersteamstore.com/Yout...y-Elite-Jersey/. Off-Season Game Plan looks at a Wild team that has a nice mix of proven veterans along with young, inexpensive talent on the rise. When the Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, making a big splash in the summer of 2012, it set the franchise on a path to being more competitive, but a big reason that they have been so competitive is the contributions of young players who still have more to give. Dan Fouts Womens Jersey .com) - Troy Brouwer scored the game-winning goal with just 12. Drue Tranquill Jersey . Louis still looking for a way out of Tampa Bay, the 38-year-old NHL veteran isnt showing his cards.SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants have raced to the best record in the majors with few contributions from two of their biggest stars. Buster Posey and Matt Cain started to change that Friday night. Posey hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the eighth inning for his first long ball in more than a month, Cain made a successful return from the disabled list and the Giants won for the eighth time in 10 games by beating the New York Mets 4-2. "Hes a talented hitter," manager Bruce Bochy said of Posey. "We all have our ups and downs. We talk about that all the time. He saw the ball well tonight." The big blast off Carlos Torres (2-3) capped a three-hit day for Posey, who entered the game with only four hits in his past 42 at-bats at home and no homers since May 3. Angel Pagan started the rally with a leadoff walk against Torres and advanced to second on a groundout. Posey followed with a long drive to left-centre to snap a 93 at-bat homer drought as the Giants (40-21) became the first team in the majors to reach 40 wins. "In that situation youre just trying to get something you can stay in the middle of the field with and try to get that run in from second," Posey said. "Fortunately I got a good pitch I could handle and it went out." Jeremy Affeldt (1-1) pitched a scoreless eighth on his 35th birthday to get the win. Sergio Romo got three outs for his 19th save in 21 chances. Daniel Murphy hit a two-run homer for the Mets, who lost their fourth straight game. The bullpen has taken all four of the losses and has a major league-worst 15 losses on the season. "He was the perfect guy," manager Terry Collins said of Torres. "Hes had great numbers against the Giants. He doesnt hardly walk anybody. Busters made a career of getting big hits." Cain allowed two runs and three hits in seven innings in his first start back from a stint on the disabled list for a strained right hamstring. But he got a no-decision and still has only one win in nine starts in a rough seeason that has included two trips to the disabled list.dddddddddddd "We had the fastball working pretty well today," Cain said. "We were on both sides of the plate and tried to mix some off-speed stuff after that. The big key today was getting the fastball over for strikes." Cain was in complete control with a 1-0 lead having faced the minimum 18 batters through six innings before the Mets quickly turned the tide in the seventh. Matt den Dekker led off the inning with a double for New Yorks second hit of the game and Murphy followed with his fourth home run of the season to put the Mets ahead 2-1. The Giants tied it in the bottom half when Brandon Hicks and Brandon Crawford teamed up again to produce a run. Hicks drew a two-out walk from Jonathon Niese, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Crawfords single to centre. The duo produced San Franciscos first run in the fifth when Hicks tripled and scored on Crawfords sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Niese allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings, extending his streak of consecutive starts allowing three earned runs or fewer to 16 but still ended up with a no-decision. "Its tough," he said. "You go out there and battle and you want to see the win beside your name. But it is what it is, its part of the game. Itll come eventually. I have all the confidence in the offence we have here. Theyre going to put up runs." Cain retired the first 12 batters of the game before walking Curtis Granderson to lead off the fifth. Granderson was quickly erased when Andrew Brown hit into a double play. The Mets got the leadoff runner on again in the sixth when Ruben Tejada reached on an infield single. Cain once again followed that by inducing a double-play grounder by Travis dArnaud. NOTES: There was a pregame moment of silence for Don Zimmer, who coached for San Francisco and played for the Mets. Zimmer died Wednesday at age 83. ... Bartolo Colon (5-5) starts Saturday for the Mets against Tim Hudson (6-2). ' ' '