Yankees: 5, Rays: 0 - Meh.

This was the definition of a lukewarm game. Yankees were giving 23 year old Jonathan Loaisiga his MLB debut today against the Rays, which you know means the Rays were going to get no hit.

Luckily that didn’t happen, and to be honest, not much actually did happen on the Rays side. Rays got their first hit (and only rally) in the 4th with a Wilson Ramos and Willy Adames singles after 2 outs. A Mallex Smith walk loaded the bases and brought up Christian Arroyo, who promptly struck out swinging.

Notable Performances

Not all is lost, however. Nathan Eovaldi had a solid night. He went 7.1 IP with 8 H, 5 ER, 1 BB and 5Ks. That final line looks bad but this was his line before coming out for the 8th inning:

The only real damage came in the 3rd off a Didi Gregorius solo HR to give the Yankees an early lead. An double by Aaron Judge and single by Didi would open up the 6th inning, but Eovaldi would limit the damage to 1 run after a sac fly to make the score 2-0. Not too bad considering the circumstances.

Should Eovaldi come out in the 8th to face a potent Yankees lineup for the 4th time? Probably not, but with the Rays on game 11 of 14, with only 2 off days in the next two weeks, Kevin Cash was probably looking to save as much of the bullpen for tomorrow’s Opener day.

Adames also had a productive night going 1-2 with 2 walks. Jake Bauers went 0-4 with 3 Ks, but one of them was on this curveball from Betances.

Not even fair.

Yankees would score 3 more on a Sanchez double in the 8th and would make the score 5-0 Yankees.

That would be the final score, as the Rays’ bats stayed quiet for the whole night. Rays will look towards game 3 of 4 as Ryne Stanek gets the start against Luis Severino. Game time is at 1:05 PM.