ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Nathan Eovaldi has been a pleasant surprise for the New York Yankees this season after they traded for the right-hander during the offseason. On Tuesday night, playing in front of possibly the smallest crowd to see the Yankees at Tropicana Field in their history visiting St. Petersburg — — 10,417 paid attendance — Eovaldi seemed as if he was on his way to his fourth win of the 2015 campaign.
Suddenly, though, after he had tossed six crisp innings and held a 2-0 lead, the wheels fell off when he allowed two runs to the Rays in the seventh. Yankees manager Joe Girardi felt comfortable, though, bringing him back out to start the eighth, but the former Miami Marlin walked Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier with one out and then surrendered a single by Steven Souza Jr. to center that sent Kiermaier to third.
Yankees reliever Dellin Betances entered the game and promptly gave up a sacrifice fly to Evan Longoria that gave the Rays a 3-2 lead. After a stolen base by Souza and an intentional walk to James Loney, Bettances threw a wild pitch that moved the runners up before another wild pitch plated Souza.
“His pitch count was at 70 and he’d pitched great,” Girardi said when discussing Eovaldi. “I know he gave up the two runs, but he still wasn’t hit hard and I thought he was still throwing the ball well.”
Eovaldi, who tossed 101 pitches, felt his walk to Kiermaier doomed him the most.
“I felt like I tried to do too much with Kiermaier up there and I just let him go on four straight,” said Eovaldi, who tossed six strikeouts. “That’s the most frustrating thing about it.”
He took his first loss since Sept. 27, 2014 while with Miami.
The Yankees dropped to 16-2 when leading after six innings, both losses coming against the Rays. It was also the fifth time this season the Yankees lost when they held a lead.