ARLINGTON – Former Yankees starter Nathan Eovaldi dominated his former workforce Saturday, cruising by way of the injury-riddled New York lineup in a complete-game shutout for the Texas Rangers.
Eovaldi solely allowed three hits and struck out eight within the 2-0 win over the Yankees, who dropped their second straight in Arlington with out star slugger Aaron Judge.
The 33-year-old Eovaldi — who signed a two-year, $34 million contract with Texas within the offseason — entered with a 5.20 ERA and hadn’t gone greater than six innings in a recreation this 12 months. But Eovaldi, who went 23-11 with the Yankees from 2015-16, returned to type Saturday, repeatedly hurling fastballs just a few ticks more durable than the 93.9 mph he averaged over his first 5 begins.
“He kind of bullied us,” Yankees supervisor Aaron Boone stated. “Used both sides of the plate, was a little unpredictable. He was slowing us down a little bit with the curveball, but obviously the cutter and the split, and stuff-wise, he was throwing hard.”
Yankees starter Jhony Brito traded zeroes with Eovaldi over the primary 4 innings however gave up a two-run house run to Ezequiel Duran within the fifth that proved to be the distinction. Brito struck out 5 batters in 5 innings and fell to 2-3.
Run-saving performs by the Yankees protection saved them within the recreation. Jake Bauers, who was known as up Saturday morning, made a troublesome sliding catch in left subject to finish a Rangers first-inning scoring risk, however crashed exhausting into the wall and left with a proper knee contusion.
X-rays on Bauers’ leg had been unfavourable, and he’s set to endure additional testing Sunday. Bauers hit 9 house runs in 21 video games at Triple-A Scanton/Wilkes-Barre earlier than being promoted.
“Tough to deal with [leaving the game], but I think at the end of the day, everything happens for a reason,” stated Bauers, who described his knee as being swollen. “Might not always know what that reason is, but just trying to keep my head up and … see where we’re at tomorrow.”
The Rangers additionally didn’t rating within the third inning after placing runners on second and third with no person out. With the infield in, shortstop Anthony Volpe fielded a brief hop off the bat of Travis Jankowski and threw Duran out at house. Aaron Hicks, who changed Bauers in left, later made a leaping catch on a deep drive by Nathaniel Lowe, almost colliding with middle fielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa within the course of.
Saturday marked the second straight punchless efficiency on offense by the Yankees, who had 5 hits in Friday’s 5-2 loss at Globe Life Field. They have now scored three runs or fewer in seven of their final 9 video games.
“It was just his night,” Hicks stated of Eovaldi. “Everything was working for him, and he was hitting his spots.”
Judge left Thursday’s sequence opener with a proper hip harm, which he suffered the day earlier than on a clumsy, head-first slide into third base in opposition to the Minnesota Twins. An MRI on Friday revealed Judge has a gentle hip pressure, Boone stated Saturday. The Yankees hope to resolve by Monday whether or not Judge requires a stint on the injured record.
“We’re just treating him day-to-day, and he’s shown a lot of improvements here in the last two days,” Boone stated earlier than the sport.
Judge’s harm was the newest for a banged-up Yankees lineup that’s additionally lacking Giancarlo Stanton, Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader.
The Yankees kicked off the four-game set in Arlington with a 4-2 win Thursday, with ace Gerrit Cole handing over one other sturdy outing to enhance to 5-0. They’ll look to salvage a sequence break up Sunday with Nestor Cortes dealing with Rangers starter Martin Perez.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com
