NEW YORK -- A major theme of Friday's pitching matchup at Yankee Stadium when the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees continue their four-game series will be the long road that Nathan Eovaldi and Jonathan Loaisiga took to reach the mound. For Eovaldi, is it his fourth start with the Tampa Bay Rays after a second Tommy John surgery. For Loaisiga, it is his major league debut with the New York Yankees after a quick ascent through the minors following Tommy John surgery and missing two seasons. The Yankees opened the series with a 4-3 victory Thursday when Gleyber Torres hit a three-run homer in the fifth inning off Blake Snell. Torres leads all rookies with 13 homers and 33 RBIs, and the Yankees are 11-3 in their last 14 games and 11-2 in their last 13 home games. Matt Duffy homered for the Rays, who are on a seven-game road losing streak after striking out 15 times. The Rays also are 4-10 in their last 14 games overall. Eovaldi, who was 23-11 with a 4.45 ERA in 51 appearances (48 starts) in two seasons for the Yankees, is 1-1 with a 3.94 ERA in his first three starts for the Rays. Though he said his velocity is coming back, he is averaging 97 mph on his fastball, which is roughly the same he averaged on the pitch with the Yankees. "For sure, the fact that I've been throwing the ball good as it is (is nice)," Eovaldi said Thursday. "So I'm going to try to keep doing that with my fastball command and really make sure I execute the off-speed pitches and get them down. Other than that, when you step between the lines, it's about going out there and competing." "I know Nate really appreciated his time here, but, no, I'm not overly concerned," Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash said. "He's been so focused on what he's doing and kind of his surroundings, and he's thrown the ball well for us since he's gotten back. I think that focus won't change, and it won't change just because he's facing a former team." Story continues Eovaldi last pitched Sunday in a 5-4 loss to the Seattle Mariners when he allowed three runs and four hits in five-plus innings. He allowed a solo homer to Nelson Cruz and a two-run homer to Mike Zunino while throwing 102 pitches, his most since Aug. 4, 2016, against the New York Mets. "I feel like I've been throwing the ball well," Eovaldi said. "I've been recovering better now that we've been getting into kind of a five-day routine of things. I feel like my arm really hasn't been as sore as when I first started from my rehab." Eovaldi is the 35th player to pitch after multiple Tommy John surgeries and the 13th to start a game. He is facing the Yankees for the first time. He is 10-4 with a 3.73 ERA in 24 appearances (23 starts) at Yankee Stadium. Eovaldi was one of those young low-cost pitchers the Yankees were hoping to develop. Now Loaisiga is one as he fills in for Masahiro Tanaka, who injured both hamstrings last Friday against the New York Mets. Loaisiga is pitching above Double-A for the first time and is 6-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 10 combined starts with Double-A Trenton and Class A Tampa this season. He attended spring training with the Yankees after being added to the 40-man roster in November. "I'm excited to see him pitch here," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "It's a guy with a really good arm, really simple athletic delivery, and I think a big reason why he's the guy we chose is that we feel like his stuff is excellent, but his delivery is low-maintenance enough that it should allow him to step up." The 23-year-old originally was signed by the San Francisco Giants in 2012, and the Yankees signed him in February 2016. He was 8-1 in the Dominican Summer League in 2013 but did not pitch again until 2016 because of Tommy John surgery. "It's been a tough road for me to get here, and now it's about enjoying this moment and this opportunity and trying to help this team win," Loaisiga said through an interpreter. "I'm focused on winning; it's everything for us and I'm looking forward to it." Loaisiga is the 15th native of Nicaragua to appear in the majors and the 11th pitcher. He is the first native of Nicaragua to appear in a game for the Yankees. The career leader in wins by a Nicaraguan is Dennis "El Presidente" Martinez. Martinez won 245 games from 1976 to 1998 with Baltimore, Montreal, Cleveland, Atlanta and Seattle, and Loaisiga is aware of his impact. "He's a baseball ambassador," Loaisiga said. "You look up to him as a kid, because he's proof you can make it to the big leagues. For us, it's following in his footsteps, and hopefully doing well and representing Nicaragua well."<doc-sep>After last night’s come-from-behind 4-3 win, the New York Yankees will debut a pitcher fresh out of the minors against an old friend pitching for the Tampa Bay Rays. Jonathan Loaisiga will get the ball for the Yankees, making his first MLB appearance and first above Double-A Trenton. Loaisiga is just 5 feet 11 inches tall and 165 pounds, but he features a mid-90s fastball with a curveball and changeup. Loaisiga went 6-1 in 10 minor league starts this year with a 58-4 K/BB ratio in 45 innings, so he’s clearly got the stuff. He’ll rather surprisingly get the first crack at replacing Masahiro Tanaka in the rotation. The Rays counter with former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi. He has made just three starts since his elbow injury with the Yankees way back in 2016, but he has looked really good so far as one of just two healthy full-time starters on this Rays club. He threw six no-hit innings in his first start back, and is sure to be eager to face his old team at Yankee Stadium tonight. Yankees vs. Rays tonight at 7:05pm on WPIX and WFAN pic.twitter.com/usNgbMa0YQ — Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) June 15, 2018 The #Rays lineup for tonight with Nathan Eovaldi starting on the mound: Duffy DH Bauers 1B Ramos C Wendle 2B Adames SS Smith CF Arroyo 3B Refsnyder LF Field RF — Neil Solondz (@neilsolondz) June 15, 2018 How to watch Location: Yankee Stadium, Bronx, NY First pitch: 7:05 PM Eastern Daylight Time TV broadcast: WPIX Radio broadcast: WFAN 660/101.9 FM, WADO 1280 For updates, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram, as well as like us on Facebook.<doc-sep>NEW YORK (AP) — Jonathan Loaisiga pitched three-hit ball over five impressive innings to win his major league debut, and the New York Yankees beat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-0 on Friday night. Didi Gregorius homered off ex-Yankee Nathan Eovaldi, and Gary Sanchez broke out of a long slump with a three-run double in the eighth. Giancarlo Stanton had a sacrifice fly for New York, which improved the best record in the majors to 45-20. Jonathan Holder, David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Adam Warren each worked an inning to finish the four-hitter. Loaisiga (1-0) was called up from Double-A Trenton to fill in for injured starter Masahiro Tanaka. The 23-year-old righty, who walked only four batters in 45 minor league innings this year, struggled a little with his command, issuing four walks while striking out six. With two outs in the fourth, the Rays loaded the bases but Loaisiga — the 15th major leaguer from Nicaragua — regrouped and struck out Christian Arroyo behind the support of 45,112 roaring fans at Yankee Stadium. Pitching against his former team, Eovaldi (1-2) allowed only two runs over the first seven innings until the Yankees chased him in the eighth. He was charged with five runs and eight hits in 7 1/3 innings during his first career outing against New York. He struck out five and walked one. It was Eovaldi’s fourth outing since coming back from a second Tommy John surgery. The right-hander pitched for the Yankees from 2015-16, going 14-3 in 2015. With one out in the eighth, Eovaldi gave up consecutive singles to Aaron Judge and Gregorius before issuing an intentional walk to Stanton. Johnny Venters entered and struck out Greg Bird before Sanchez’s bases-loaded line drive to right field skipped past a diving Johnny Field to make it 5-0. LOOKING TOWARD THE FUTURE The Yankees traded RHP Chad Whitmer to Milwaukee for $59,000 in international signing bonus pool money. That raises New York’s available total to $5,061,000 for the signing period that starts July 2. The 23-year-old Whitmer, a 10th-round pick in the 2017 draft, went 3-0 with a 3.79 ERA for the Gulf Coast Yankees last season in rookie ball. SKIPPING LEVELS According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Loaisiga became the first Yankees player to make his major league debut without appearing in a Triple-A game since INF Ramiro Pena on April 6, 2009, at Boston. The last Yankees pitcher to accomplish the feat was Chase Wright on April 17, 2007, against Cleveland UP NEXT Yankees ace Luis Severino (9-2, 2.27 ERA) tries Saturday to improve to 6-0 at home this season. Tampa Bay is expected to open with right-handed reliever Ryne Stanek on another “bullpen day.”<doc-sep>Happy Fathers Day, friends! Our recap crew was stretched a bit thin today so here you’ll find a brief summary, largely courtesy or Mr. Twitter, and a few observations. If you saw something in the game worthy of further discussion, tell us about it in the comments. The Rays did all their scoring in a three run second inning, stringing together several hits: Now Gomez shoots one by Andújar down the 3rd bass line for an RBI double. Rays have a chance for a big inning here. Still no outs — Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) June 17, 2018 Duffy comes through with a 2-RBI single. Gets thrown out at 2nd but big time hit to give the #Rays a 3-0 lead — Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) June 17, 2018 As for the defensive side, the Rays had a true bullpen day, running out five pitchers. Wilmer Font got the Rays in the fifth, giving up one run on a solo homerun. Just the one run against Font as he works a little longer today. pic.twitter.com/Fp0vjJzzLp — Tampa Bay Rays (@RaysBaseball) June 17, 2018 Jose Alvarado followed, and he was just a tad shaky but kept the score 3-1. Chaz Roe, Diego Castillo and Sergio Romo followed and were all impressive against the strong Yankee line up. Wilmer Font since coming over to the #Rays: 4 ER in 16.1 innings pitched. That’s a 2.24 ERA. Pretty good. — Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) June 17, 2018 Walking the 1st batter has not been a successful practice for #Rays relievers — Marc Topkin (@TBTimes_Rays) June 17, 2018 Some other thoughts: Did Willy Adames do something to irritate MLB umpires? I could swear he is getting squeezed at the plate, and not just losing out an the really close calls but on several occasions getting the short end of some pretty badly missed calls. Seeing these tweets confirms some of my suspicions Adames has been getting absolutely no help from the umpires since being recalled — Juan Toribio (@juanctoribio) June 17, 2018 Call hurts #RaysUp Strike 2 should be ball 1 Top 2 Sabathia vs Adames 8% call same 3.1in from edge pic.twitter.com/ieinpfFm9Z — Rays Strike Zone (@RaysUmp) June 17, 2018<doc-sep>
The Yankees and the Rays haven’t faced each other since New York’s home opener at the beginning of April. Now they’ll play each other seven times over the next 11 days. The good news is that the Rays are hovering below the .500 mark, and this should be a winnable series. Game One: Domingo German vs. Blake Snell German has been part of the Yankees’ rotation for a month now, and he has been on quite the rollercoaster ride so far. He got off to a great start, tossing six no-hit innings against Cleveland. However, he followed that performance up with two six-run games. He is coming off of one of his better starts, though, having held the Mets to three runs with nine strikeouts during his last outing. German will square off opposite of Blake Snell, who happens to be one of the Rays‘ two starters. He is putting together a great season (2.30 ERA, 0.98 WHIP). Snell limited the Mariners to two hits last week, and has surrendered just three runs over his last five starts. Game Two: Jonathan Loaisiga vs. Nathan Eovaldi This promises to be an interesting game. There was a lot of speculation about who might replace Masahiro Tanaka in the rotation after he went down with double hamstring sprains last week. Although he only has 25 Double-A innings under his belt, the Yankees decided to call up Jonathan Loaisiga. This could end up being just a spot start, or he could stick around while Tanaka mends. The young right-hander started the season in Tampa before earning a promotion. He has a 3.00 ERA over 45 innings pitched in 2018. There could be worse teams to make your MLB debut against. Loaisiga will face off against our old friend Nathan Eovaldi. This will be just his fourth start since making his way back from Tommy John surgery. He no-hit the Athletics through six innings during his season debut, but has surrendered seven runs in the two starts since then. Game Three: Luis Severino vs. TBD Since Chris Archer is dealing with an abdominal strain (and recently suffered a setback), it’s difficult to predict who will pitch for the Rays over the weekend. Ryan Yarbrough started the day after Eovaldi’s last outing and gave up four earned runs against the Blue Jays. He could get the nod. It‘s no secret that the Rays have had their relievers start games, and have used their bullpen for entire games. The Yankees will likely face them all over the weekend. One thing that we do know for sure is that Severino will start Saturday’s game for New York. He has been dominant this year, with his only rocky outing coming against Boston on April 10th. Game Four: TBD vs. TBD Seems like a questionable decision for the Rays to throw TBD out there two days in a row. This should be CC Sabathia’s start if the Yankees stay on rotation. Unfortunately, the squad will fly to DC for 1.5 games the following day and it’s unclear who will pitch in either of those games just yet. Stay tuned.