Yankees' Tanaka felt 'absolutely no pain' in first rehab start

Masahiro Tanaka threw 41 pitches with "absolutely no pain" Thursday evening for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, stymieing Triple-A hitters over three scoreless innings in his first rehab start since landing on the disabled list last month due to a forearm strain and wrist tendinitis.

"I felt pretty good out there," Tanaka told MLB.com's Matt Kardos. "I was able to use all of my pitches, and I felt good. I feel confident in all of the pitches that I threw."

Tanaka routinely hit 91 miles per hour on the radar gun, throwing roughly 61 percent of his pitches for strikes while collecting a pair of strikeouts against the Durham Bulls. The 26-year-old will likely need at least two more rehab starts before he rejoins the New York Yankees, according to Roger Rubin of the New York Daily News.

Tanaka, who was placed on the disabled list April 28, famously spurned Tommy John surgery last summer after an MRI revealed a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament. Though many speculated that his current injury is somehow related to last summer's ligament tear, the Yankees have publicly insisted that the two are not connected.

Prior to landing on the disabled list, Tanaka crafted a 3.22 ERA (124 ERA+) with a 3.43 strikeout-to-walk ratio over four starts.