MOOSIC -- It was a huge night at PNC Field for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders game Thursday night.
Fans came out for a chance to watch New York Yankees starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka take the field with the Yankees top minor league team.
“Go Tanaka!”
Baseball fans were in a frenzy as they watched the starting pitcher take the field with the RailRiders at PNC Field.
“This guy, I get to see this guy pitch. I got tickets behind the plate and I can't wait,” said Joe Pusateri from Dunmore. “I mean this guy's an ace.”
Tanaka is here playing with the Yankees top minor league team to rehab an injured forearm.
The lines were packed with people eager to get in to see the Yankee star.
Ed Kowalyk came with three youngsters who were all lined up before the game waiting for an autograph.
“Locally it's great for the area, great for the economy, and these guys are really excited, as soon as they found out they couldn't wait to get here to see him play,” said Kowalyk.
The RailRiders say with more than 7,000 tickets sold before the gates opened, they were looking at crowd numbers they haven't seen since 2013, when Yankee legends Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez played for the team.
“It's the biggest turnout we've had in the last two years. We didn't have any kind of rehab last year so for us these are the moments you live for in minor league baseball,” said General Manager Jeremy Ruby.
Even if Tanaka only plays this one game with the RailRiders, team officials are hoping the excitement over his appearance will help drive up crowd numbers over this holiday weekend.
“You want to have the big nights consistently. This kicks off summer. We've got Memorial Day weekend coming up, so it's pretty awesome that this is happening right before the holiday weekend,” said Ruby.
Tanaka was only slated to throw 45 pitches as he is in recovery.
With the Yankee star pitching only for the first three innings and only giving up one hit, fans felt they got their money's worth.
“It's awesome! You get to come see an ace like this pitch and see how dominant he is.”
As far as how many games Tanaka could play with the RailRiders, the Yankees say that will be determined on a daily basis.