Former Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles teammates Masahiro Tanaka and Hisashi Iwakuma, who were scheduled to face off in a pitching duel on Tuesday in Seattle, will not face each other this week after Tanaka's schedule in the New York Yankees rotation was pushed ahead to Wednesday.
The Yankees were rained out Monday at Kauffmann Stadium in Kansas City, meaning Tanaka's scheduled start against Seattle Mariners righty Iwakuma was switched to Wednesday in Seattle. Iwakuma instead will face Yankees lefty Vidal Nuno on Tuesday.
Last season Tanaka, who is 9-1 and leads the American League with a 2.02 ERA in his rookie season, went 24-0 to guide the Eagles to their first Japan Series title.
Iwakuma joined the Mariners as a free agent in 2012. He is 4-2 with a 2.66 ERA in his third season in the majors.