Former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi shut out the Yanks until 2 outs in the 8th inning, finally leaving after a DJ LeMahieu homerun pulled the Yanks to within 4-1. The Yanks then loaded the bases in the 8th with 2 out, and mounted another rally in the 9th against Boston’s bullpen but fell short, 4-2, on a Saturday night at Fenway.
Tampa won so the Yanks fell to 6 games back of 1st, and 5.5 back of 2nd place Boston.
1. Eovaldi on Fire
Eovaldi finished this game with 7.2 innings, 7 hits, 1 run, 6 K’s, 0 walks. He allowed a leadoff single in the 1st, but got a double play to kill the rally, then pitched mostly 1-2-3 innings, allowing scattered singles here and there. In the 6th, the Yanks got 1st and 2nd, 1 out — but another double play killed the rally.
You can blame the Yankee hitters for hitting into double plays; but you can also credit Eovaldi who throws an 88 MPH slider that gets hit on the ground a lot, mixed with an 82 MPH curve and 98 MPH fastball.
“He doesn’t give free passes, and he keeps the ball in the ballpark,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “He limits traffic and does a good job of keeping the ball in the ballpark.”
Yanks Got Eovaldi & German for Phelps & Prado
In December 2014, the Yankees traded David Phelps and Martin Prado to the Miami Marlins for Nathan Eovaldi and a minor leaguer named Domingo German. It ended up being a Great trade for the Yanks. Eovaldi was a highly regarded prospect with the Dodger organization but before being given much of a chance there, they ended up giving him up as the centerpiece of a trade to Miami for Hanley Ramirez in 2012.
In Miami Eovaldi showed great stuff but had a losing record for 3 years until the Yankees took a chance on him and his high-end ability. It worked — Eovaldi went 14-3 4.20 with the 2015 Yanks. In 2016 Eovaldi wasn’t the same — he was 9-8 4.76 when it was revealed he had blown out his UCL and needed Tommy John surgery.
And that was it for Eovaldi’s Yankee career; they released him in November 2016.
Eovaldi’s Comeback from Tommy John
He started his comeback in 2018 in Tampa on a minor contract, and pitched well there (3-4 4.26) before coming down with loose bodies in his elbow. Tampa traded him to Boston in July 2018 for Jalen Beeks — a minor trade.
Eovaldi Dynamite in 2018 Playoffs
And that’s when Eovaldi finally started to comeback in full force. He was dynamite down the stretch and in the 2018 playoffs, helping Boston to a World Series win.
Eovaldi pitched ok in 2020 and here he is at 8-4 3.67 and leading the American League in starts, after beating the Yanks.
2. Monty Pitched Well Again
The only really good news on the day for the Yanks — Jordan Montgomery pitched well again — showing moxie: 6 innings, 3 runs, 8 hits, struck out 6 walked 2 — a quality start. His main trouble — in the 2nd inning, an infield single (to catcher), walk, and infield single (to pitcher) loaded the bases with nobody out. A sac fly plated one run; a foul out to 1st plated a 2nd run as Luke Voit threw badly to home.
In the 3rd, a 2-out double, infield single, infield single to 2nd plated a 3rd run to make it 3-0 Boston.
“I thought Monty threw the ball really well,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “He probably gave up 5 infield hits. I thought he was really good from the start… I thought it was unfortunate for Monty who I thought threw the ball really well against them tonite.”
Monty was helped out in the 1st inning by an excellent defensive play by Gleyber Torres — the only highlight on the evening the Yankee twitter channel would post:
He's a smooth operator. pic.twitter.com/Max0DiDINo
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 26, 2021
Albert Abreu pitched the 7th and 8th — allowing a run in the 7th on a single, double, single to make it 4-0 Boston.
3. Yankee 8th Inning Rally
As soon as DJ LeMahieu hit the homer to finally get Eovaldi out of the game in the 8th, the Yankee offense sprung alive. Hirokazu Sawamura came in and walked the bases loaded with 2 outs — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, and Gary Sanchez all worked 2-out walks. Sawamura left. In came Adam Ottavino to get Luke Voit on a groundout to end the inning.
4. Yankee 9th Inning Rally
In the 9th against Ottavino — Gleyber Torres got a 1-out single, Brett Gardner got a 2-out walk, and DJ LeMahieu singled in a run to make it 4-2, tying run at 1st, and go-ahead run at the plate in Aaron Judge. But Judge struck out an a 2-2 pitch — a 96-MPH sinker from Ottavino — for the old ballgame.
OttaviNO. pic.twitter.com/DnHMGCZond
— Red Sox (@RedSox) June 27, 2021
Etcetera
The Yankees banged out 9 hits:
- DJ LeMahieu went 4-5 to raise his average to .271 (.346 OB)
- Aaron Judge went 2-4 to raise his average to .285 (.385 OBP)
- Gary Sanchez went 1-3 with a walk to raise his avg to .238 (.345 OBP)
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401228199
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