Yankees may have solved Eovaldi
It was billed as a potential preview of the American League Wild Card Game and a pitchers’ duel between Yankees’ ace Gerritt Cole and Red Sox ace Nathan Eovaldi.
That it was not.
As the Red Sox try to hold onto playoff position and host the Wild Card Game a week from Tuesday, they now have to confront an uncomfortable truth: the Yankees appear to have solved
Eovaldi.
The Sox’ right-hand- er seemed as lost as ever on Fri- day, when he allowed seven earned runs in just 2 2/3 innings before getting pulled in an eventual 8-3 loss.
“He wasn’t that far off,” manager Alex Cora said. “He just wasn’t able to put those guys away with two strikes. No strikeouts. You don’t see that often.”
It was a painful sight for the Sox, who went into Friday with their rotation lined up perfectly to end the season with Chris Sale on the mound against the Nationals, if they needed to win that game, and Eovaldi ready to go in the Wild Card Game.
As of Saturday, the Sox would host the Yankees at Fenway Park for the onegame playoff and an opportunity to face the Rays in the Division Series.
But the Sox may need to re-examine their plans.
Eovaldi had previously been dominant against the
Yankees all year, taking a 2.01 ERA and 34 strikeouts to just two walks in 31 1/3 innings against his former club this year.
As well as he’s pitched, the Red Sox are just 2-4 against the Yankees with Eovaldi on the mound.
“It’s frustrating,” Eovaldi said. “We know how important this game was. We know where we stand in the hunt for the Wild Card and the playoffs.”
Friday, the Yankees looked like a team that had found the answer key.
Not one time did the Yankees swing at one of Eovaldi’s off-speed pitches outside the strike zone. They simply didn’t chase. When Eovaldi came into the zone with a curve, slider, cutter or splitter, the Yankees took their hacks and didn’t miss.
“I didn’t really have a great feel on my curveball or splitter tonight,” he said. “Early in the first inning, I was sweating a lot and the splitter just kept slipping out, I wasn’t executing, I wasn’t able to get down in the zone.”
Because of the sweat, Eovaldi said he wasn’t able to grip the ball until the second inning, and by that time he had already given up on his signature splitter and curve.
“I never really established the curveball in the zone,” he said. “And when I’m sticking hard with all my pitches, fastballs, slider, cut
ter, they did a really good job of protecting on the slider down and away. …
“I felt like I just didn’t do my job tonight going out and attacking batters the way I should have and the way I’m capable of doing. It’s one of those things, too, when I don’t have a certain pitch working, I can’t shy away from it. I have to keep forcing it and figuring it out.”
Of the 13 times the Yankees swung at one of Eovaldi’s off-speed pitches, they made contact all 13 times.
And when Eovaldi went out of the zone, the Yankees let it go.
It was Hitting 101, but the Yankees looked a little too comfortable doing it.
Have the Yankees simply seen enough of this guy and finally figured out a winning attack plan? Eovaldi thought so.
“The game plan is going to change, the hitters are going to show you what they’re geared up,” he said. “They were protecting on the offspeed down-and-away. Some of the guys were closer to the plate (in their batting stances). I have to do a better job of adjusting on the fly. I have to be able to run the fastballs inside. Once I’m ahead I have to be able to put the batters away and tonight I just wasn’t able to do that.
“The splitter I didn’t have it working for me. The curveball
I wasn’t throwing it for a first-pitch strike. I was falling behind after that and those guys were able to put together quality at-bats and getting knocks.”
The only pitch he was able to generate a swing-andmiss on was his four-seam fastball, but even that pitch was knocked around a fair amount. Six of his fastballs got put into play, and five of them were for hits, including a 386-foot homer by Giancarlo Stanton, who tagged him for a three-run dagger in the third inning.
It was a disheartening effort for Eovaldi, who saw his ERA go from 3.58 to 3.88 in the process.
He’s on schedule to start either Wednesday or Thursday in Baltimore, depending if the Sox want him to be on normal rest or extra rest for the Wild Card Game the following Tuesday.
At this point it’s fair to wonder if Chris Sale would be the better choice if the Sox and Yanks match up in the single-elimination event. Sale hasn’t faced the Yankees in two years. And while their offense has been better against lefties than against righties, that was before they added a pair of impressive left-handed hitters, Anthony Rizzo and Joey Gallo, at the trade deadline.
Rizzo and Gallo went 3-for-4 with a double and two singles off Eovaldi on Friday night.