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New York Yankees Reaction: Eovaldi’s Woes Continue; Late Comeback Falls Short In Loss (Highlights)

By
Christian Kouroupakis
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The New York Yankees rallied late but it simply wasn’t enough as Nathan Eovaldi dug too deep of a hole in tonight’s 7-6 loss to the San Diego Padres. 

  • New York Yankees: 6 (39-40)
  • San Diego Padres: 7 (34-46)
  • Interleague, FINAL, Box Score
  • Petco Park, San Diego, CA

After taking two games in a row from one of the most dominant teams in the American League, the New York Yankees were unable to use the momentum on the West Coast as they drop game one of this three-game set to the Padres. 

Nathan Eovaldi was looking at a prime opportunity to turn his woes around by beating a team that doesn’t particularly hit well in a pitcher-friendly ballpark but he did quite the opposite. 

In his 4.1 innings of work, Eovaldi surrendered six runs on seven hits, two of them being home runs as he has now gone five straight outings without a win. 

On the other side, Colin Rea held the Yankees’ bats quiet by only surrendering two runs (one unearned) in six innings of work. The righty struck out five compared to one walk while bringing his season ERA down to 4.79. 

The game initiated in improbable fashion but for Jacoby Ellsbury, it was just business as usual as he reached base via catcher’s interference for the seventh time this season. He did not score that inning as New York stranded the bases loaded.

Just to put that interference number into perspective, the rest of baseball has a combined total of 17. 

The scoring would get started a half-inning later as Melvin Upton Jr. singled to center to score Wil Myers in order to make it 1-0 Padres but the scoring in the first frame wasn’t done yet.

The very next batter, Derek Norris, doubled to left which scored both Yangervis Solarte from third and Upton from first in order to make it 3-0 Padres.

Next inning, Ellsbury would single with two outs to score Didi Gregorius to put the Yankees on the board but San Diego would get that run right back in the bottom of the second.

Rookie Ryan Schimpf smacked a line drive off Eovaldi that left the yard in a hurry to extend his team’s lead to 4-1. Schimpf owns 15 home runs in 51 games played in Triple-A this season so it appears as though he is exercising that power stroke in the big show.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Padres were looking for some insurance as Meyers dug in with the intent to do damage on an Eovaldi pitch that was sent right down Broadway.

Myers’ 19 home run of the year just demonstrates how high his performance level has been here in 2016. The former Tampa Bay Ray is tied for second in home runs, first in hits, and second in batting average among National League first baseman with a minimum of 300 plate appearances. 

In the top of the sixth, however, the Yankees decided to make up some ground and catcher Brian McCann answered their call with a solo home run off Rea to cut the deficit down to four. It was home run number 13 for McCann as well as his fourth home run in his last three games played. 

After a pass ball that scored Solarte to pad the Padres’ lead a tad in the bottom of the seventh, the Yankees decided to make a push for their third straight comeback win. 

After an Alex Rodriguez pinch-hit RBI single to score McCann, Gregorius carried his stellar June (.337 BA) into July by ripping an RBI double down the right field line to score Starlin Castro which brought up the tying run with no outs.

After scoring A-Rod on a groundout followed by a wild pitch to score their tenth run in the last three ninth innings, it was up to the Yankees’ best hitter, Carlos Beltran, to either tie the game with one swing or start a brand new rally. He came through with the latter by ripping a double into the gap in left-center.

After Ellsbury grounded out to second to move Beltran up 90-feet, it was up to Brett Gardner to come through with the game-tying hit.

Unfortunately, he grounded out to short to not only cap off a 0-for-5 day but a loss that sends the Yankees a game under .500 yet again.

Not-So-Nasty Nate:

Eovaldi hasn’t even been a shadow of what he was in the earlier portion of the 2016 season.

After starting the year 6-2 with a 3.71 ERA and even making a bid to represent New York in the All-Star game, he put together a dismal June by maintaining an 8.65 ERA while losing three-out-of-five outings without a win.

After surrendering six runs and two homers to the Padres tonight, his ERA has climbed to an astronomical 9.20 while surrendering 12 home runs in his last six starts. His stuff is better than this, but location has to change if Eovaldi is going to evolve into an elite starting pitcher at the Major League level.

This Day In Yankees History:

On this day back in 2004, one of the most epic games took place between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. Why was it so epic? Well, besides the 13 inning victory for New York, Derek Jeter made a play that would be featured in Jeter highlight films for years to come.

Boston’s Trot Nixon lifted a shallow ball that would have dropped in for a base hit with two outs in the twelve that would have scored two runs but the Captain made a running catch capped off by a head-first dive into the stands.

The Yankees would go on to win 5-4 thanks in large part to their legendary shortstop making one of the most prominent plays of his championship career.

Injury Update:

Conor Mullee left tonight’s contest in the bottom of the sixth after feeling some discomfort in his fingers. According to manager Joe Girardi, he will go for X-Rays but for nerves to be affected on a pitcher who has had Tommy John twice in his career is rather troublesome.

What’s Next?

For those on the East Coast, you get to experience another late night as tomorrow’s contest kicks off at Petco Park at 10:10 PM ET with Ivan Nova taking the hill against Drew Pomeranz.

Nova is on a mission to put his dismal June in the rearview mirror. Last month, after dazzling upon his return to the staff maintained an ERA of 7.52 including 37 hits surrendered in just 26.1 innings of work.

He does, however, have a history of bright interleague play to look at in order to boost his rattled confidence. In 15 games pitched against a National League team, Nova has posted a 2.88 ERA which includes a game in which he struck out eight batters in seven shutout innings against San Diego back in 2013.

Pomeranz is looking to build on his attempt to represent the team that plays the city in which this year’s All-Star game is being held as he is holding opposing batters to a .190 batting average.

First pitch will come your way nationally at nine on FOX Sports 1 and WFAN.

NEXT: New York Yankees Potential Trade Deadline Targets

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