Even the worst teams have big league hitters capable of punishing a pitcher on any given night. Friday was the night the moribund Rangers feasted on Masahiro Tanaka’s signature pitch that lacked bite and depth, and did everything but beg to be hit.

“He misexecuted pitches and that team can put the ball in the seats. It’s unfortunate,’’ catcher Austin Romine said of Tanaka’s split-fingered fastball that loitered in the middle of the plate far too often and led to a 12-7 Rangers win in front of 45,198 cranky customers at Yankee Stadium. “It stayed flat and didn’t have the tilt. A couple of them stayed straight and got hit out.’’

Tanaka, who was 2-0 with a 1.78 ERA in his previous five starts, gave up six runs, six hits (three homers which tied his season high) and walked three. He is 9-3 and lost for the first time since April 17. Tanaka was 7-0 with a 3.12 ERA in his previous 14 starts.

The loss stopped the Yankees’ four-game winning streak and dropped them nine lengths back of the AL East-leading Red Sox. The 72-43 Yankees are 4-1 in a stretch of 27 games against teams with .500 or less records. The Rangers, last in the AL West, are among that bunch of bad teams. They rank near the bottom of the AL in team pitching and hitting and are tied for last in fielding.

Yet, led by a three-homer game from first baseman Ronald Guzman, the Rangers assaulted the Yankees’ pitchers for 12 runs and 14 hits.

“He struggled to find his split. I don’t think he was very sharp, even with his slider,’’ manager Aaron Boone said of Tanaka, who gave up two of Guzman’s three homers. “Not real good command of all his pitches. They will make you pay.’’

Despite searching for the downward action on his splitter in the opening innings, Tanaka kept the Rangers from scoring across the first three. Then the Rangers took advantage of a pitcher without his best weapon in the fourth.

Adrian Beltre, who went 2-for-5 and drove in four runs, hit a two-run homer and Guzman hit the first of his three. Elvis Andrus followed with a two-run double in the fifth for a 5-0 lead.

Hoping to keep the bullpen from working four innings, Boone sent Tanaka to the mound to start the sixth and watched Guzman hit an opposite-field homer to left for a 6-1 Rangers lead. A.J. Cole surfaced and had the worst outing of his 17 games as a Yankee, allowing four runs (two earned) and five hits in two innings. Chad Green gave up two runs and three hits in the seventh.

The good news is Tanaka, a cerebral pitcher capable of making the necessary changes after a game like Friday night’s, thinks that what went wrong can be corrected.

“I have an idea. I am not here to explain everything but I have an idea of what’s wrong and I will make an adjustment in my next start,’’ said Tanaka, who is slated to face the Rays on Wednesday at the Stadium.

Playing from behind, the Yankees got a solo homers from Brett Gardner in the fifth off winner Mike Minor (9-6) and Romine in the seventh off Eddie Butler. Romine added a two-run single in the eighth off Chris Martin and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Didi Gregorius also went 3-for-4.

“They got the best of us tonight,’’ Gardner said. “We need to play better [Saturday].’’