NEW YORK -- When it was over, Masahiro Tanaka was glad he kept fans entertained with his dazzling array of pitches.

In an inconsistent season for the Tanaka, the New York Yankees are hoping for more entertainment from the pitcher projected to be their ace.

Tanaka retired the first 17 hitters and set a career high with 14 strikeouts in eight dominant innings as the Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 6-1 on Friday night for their fifth straight win.

Brett Gardner, Aaron Judge and Clint Frazier homered off Austin Pruitt but it was all about Tanaka. Didi Gregorius added an RBI single for New York's final run.

Tanaka lowered his ERA from 5.37 to 5.09 by working quickly and racking up strikeouts early. He had nine by the time Adeiny Hechavarria hit his 69th pitch just past Gregorius' diving attempt at shortstop and into center field but rebounded quickly and struck out Mallex Smith for a third time.

Tanaka (8-9) allowed a run and two hits and did not walk a batter, while hardly resembling the pitcher who has confounded the Yankees to the point where general manager Brian Cashman referred to solving the mystery of Tanaka's struggles as "CSI: The Bronx."

"Just to see him dealing like that is encouraging," New York manager Joe Girardi said. "You want to see him get on a roll."

Tanaka helped continue the Yankees' current roll -- a 10-5 record since the All-Star break and eight wins in the last 10 games to move them back into first place in the American League East for the first time since June 28.

Tanaka reached five three-ball counts all night, including to Tim Beckham, whom he struck out with a full-count sinker on the ninth pitch of the at-bat for the final out of the eighth.

Finishing off Beckham earned Tanaka a loud ovation from the crowd as he walked off the mound.

"Hopefully I was able to entertain everybody," Tanaka said through an interpreter.

Well not everybody, especially the Rays, who beat him twice earlier this year but tied a season low for hits, fell to 0-5 in New York and lost for the seventh time in nine games.

"Tanaka was pretty much the story," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. "He really came out early with his approach. Right out of the gate, he went his split, his cutter, his slider. Kept of us off-balance, racked up a ton of strikeouts. From the side there didn't appear to be many pitches that guys could handle. It wasn't like we were missing pitches. ... (A) bunch of quality to perfect pitches. That's the way it goes sometimes."

The right-hander produced his 10th career double-digit strikeout game and surpassed his previous career high of 13 set in a 4-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics on May 26.

"It means I had a lot of swings and misses," Tanaka said.

Tanaka struck out the side in the first and eighth, recorded at least one strikeout in every inning and had multiple strikeouts of Smith, Evan Longoria, Steven Souza Jr., Wilson Ramos and Beckham. The only player who did not strike out against Tanaka was Hechavarria.

Tanaka snapped a three-start winless skid against the Rays after posting a 20.25 ERA in two previous starts this season.

"He established that he was kind of going to be able to live at the bottom of the zone," Cash said. "He was painting at the bottom of the zone."

Pruitt (5-2) made his second career start and allowed five runs and four hits in five innings.

Lucas Duda made his debut for Tampa Bay after being acquired from the New York Mets on Thursday and broke up Tanaka's shutout with a homer in the seventh.

"He probably had the best at-bats of anybody," Cash said of Duda.

Tanaka recorded nine of his first 15 outs via strikeout, getting Smith and Souza Jr. two times apiece. He also struck out Duda on the 10th pitch of his at-bat with a sinker to start the second.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead when Gardner hit his fourth leadoff homer of the season and went up 2-0 with one out in the fourth when Judge hit a 1-2 fastball over the left field wall.

New York upped the lead to 5-0 when Frazier hit an 0-1 pitch over the visiting bullpen and into the left-center field bleachers with two outs in the fifth.

NOTES: Tampa Bay made a trade for a third straight day, acquiring RHP Steve Cishek from the Seattle Mariners for RHP Erasmo Ramirez. Cishek is expected to be activated for Saturday's game and he will become the 49th player used by the Rays this season. ... RF Aaron Judge said his upper front left tooth was chipped by a batting helmet hitting his mouth during the celebration at the plate following CF Brett Gardner's game-winning homer in the 11th inning Thursday. Said manager Joe Girardi: "I'm sure the ribbing will continue for a number of days. This will not stop after today." ... New York DH Matt Holliday batted sixth in the starting lineup for the first time since July 19, 2005, at Washington when he was with the Colorado Rockies.