HOUSTON -- Let's take the Yankees at their word that Masahiro Tanaka is healthy. Maybe what we have seen these past two starts is just part of who Tanaka is as a pitcher. Perhaps Tanaka isn't the lights-out, ace starter we saw in his first 14 outings as a rookie. He might be more of a No. 2 starter.

Brian Cashman once famously described his $155 million pitcher as a "solid, consistent, No. 3 starter." Tanaka blew that projection out of the water with a 1.99 ERA in his first 14 major league starts. He also nearly blew out his elbow.

Masahiro Tanaka has allowed 11 earned runs in his past two starts. Scott Halleran/Getty Images

The old standby when Tanaka looks as bad as he did Saturday (a second straight awful start) is: Is he hurt again? Has that small tear of the ulnar collateral ligament grown larger? The fastball, clocking in at 91-94, says no. The Yankees, to a man, say there is nothing wrong.

Of note is Tanaka's continued reliance on his cutter and his hesitance to use his four-seam fastball. In giving up a six-run lead to the Astros, Tanaka was being too careful, according to pitching coach Larry Rothschild.

Tanaka was not throwing his four-seam fastball, even though Rothschild told Tanaka and presumably Brian McCann that he thought Tanaka should. Tanaka wouldn't do it.

The Yankees won 9-6, but Tanaka allowed six runs, with three homers among his seven hits allowed. He struck out five and walked two. His previous time out, Tanaka went five innings and allowed seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits against Detroit.

"There are some inconsistencies with command of his fastball," Rothschild said. "I think he is feeling his way through some things instead of getting aggressive. You have to use all your pitches, but you have to stay on the attack. He was behind in the count a lot. He is putting himself in bad counts."

Tanaka was trying to be too fine by working the corners. For whatever reason -- Rothschild could only guess that Tanaka didn't feel strong -- Tanaka declined to be aggressive.

"It means attack the strike zone instead of trying to dot it around the strike zone," Rothschild said.

Tanaka said his mechanics are off. Prior to the start, Tanaka had two bullpen sessions, which is one more than the norm. They didn't help him.

"I feel sorry for the team and my teammates," Tanaka said. "Obviously, they gave me a six-run lead. I want to go out there and shut the opponent down, but I wasn't able to."

Tanaka took solace in the fact that the Yankees went on to win 9-6 over the Astros. He also said he had long, bad stretches in Japan and made it sound like this is nothing unusual.

Tanaka is still 4-3 with a 3.88 ERA this season. In his major league career, he has now made 28 starts -- nearly a full season's worth -- and has a 17-8 record with a 2.88 ERA. Those are excellent, pretty close to ace-worthy. But they are very top-heavy, considering the way he stormed out of the gate as a major leaguer.

Since then, he has been hurt -- 15 weeks on the DL the past two seasons -- and he has been an OK but not outstanding starter.

Let's take the Yankees at their word. Let's suppose Tanaka is fully fine, health-wise, as he, manager Joe Girardi and Rothschild all say. Perhaps he is just a very good pitcher, who is going to have starts such as we have seen the past two times out.

This isn't a bad thing. It might just be what Tanaka is. It is better than being injured, but the Yankees might need more to win the AL East.