Junichi Tazawa Recalls Debut At Yankee Stadium, Chat With Jason Varitek

It’s been six years since Junichi Tazawa made his major league debut for the Boston Red Sox against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium. The night was a forgettable one for Tazawa and hardly an indication of the reliable reliever he’d soon become.

“If somebody reminds me of that day, I do think about it, but not usually,” Tazawa told WEEI.com’s John Tomase this week in New York through a translator.

Tazawa entered in the 14th inning on Aug. 7, 2009, with the game still scoreless. He surrendered a walk-off home run to Alex Rodriguez in the 15th inning and took the loss as Boston suffered a 2-0 defeat.

Tazawa’s debut now is an afterthought, and for good reason, as he’s since become a stabilizing presence at the back end of Boston’s bullpen. The right-hander played a key role in the Red Sox’s 2013 World Series run, recording some big outs in front of closer Koji Uehara.

But Tazawa seemingly still remembers the first time he took to the mound at Yankee Stadium in great detail. He was called up from Triple-A Pawtucket before the game and figured to be used only in the case of an emergency. Sure enough, a marathon affair broke out. Tazawa was the last reliever summoned from the Red Sox’s bullpen — right after fellow Japanese hurler Takashi Saito.

Tazawa immediately faced a familiar face in Hideki Matsui, who was a superstar in Japan before signing with the Yankees in 2002. He retired Matsui on a lineout before stumbling into a jam he eventually escaped unscathed.

“I didn’t know who I was facing until exactly at the point I was going into the game,” Tazawa said. “I just knew (Matsui) was a guy I was always watching on TV, so it was a dream kind of situation for me, facing that guy.”

A-Rod ended the game in the 15th inning with a two-run homer to left-center field. It was a difficult way for Tazawa’s big league debut to end, though he soon brushed it off and turned the page.

“What I remember about that moment is that I lost the game,” Tazawa told Tomase. “Everyone else had done their job and I hadn’t and I felt bad about that. But the thing I remember after the game is (catcher) Jason Varitek came to me and told me that the pitch that A-Rod hit, that was on him, and that he put down the wrong sign and called the wrong pitch.

“Just the fact that he said that to me, that really took a lot of pressure off my shoulders. I gained a lot of respect for him after that conversation.”

Tazawa, who underwent Tommy John surgery in 2010, didn’t find his stride until 2012. He hasn’t stopped running ever since, though he credits his less-than-stellar debut as being an eye-opening experience that helped lead him down a path of success.