Yankees, Phillies rave about Jonathan Loaisiga, another hot rookie

Rookie pitcher Jonathan Loaisiga gave up no runs and just one hit in 5.1 innings during the Yankees’ 4-2 win over the Phillies on Monday, June 25, 2018 (6/25/18) at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa. Loaisiga improved to 2-0 and dropped his ERA to 1.93.

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PHILADELPHIA — Phillies left fielder Rhys Hoskins was hunting for mistake pitches Monday night facing Yankees rookie Jonathan Loaisiga for the first time.

That’s his forte.

The righty-swinging slugger had 18 homers in 50 games last year in a short-but-sweet rookie season that was reminiscent of Yankees catcher Gary Sanchez’s in 2016 and he’s gone yard 11 times this year in 67 games.

Facing Loaisiga, a 23-year-old righty who began the season in A-ball and double-jumped to the big leagues from Double-A Trenton on June 15, Hopkins had two dismal plate appearances. He fouled out to first base in the first inning on a low 97-mph fastball with life, then was rung up in the fourth on a 1-2 slider that was down and on the outside corner.

Loaisiga loses no-hitter in 6th inning

“Guy’s got good stuff,” Hoskins said after a 4-2 Yankees win in which Loaisiga pitched a one-hit shutout, struck out eight and walked two through 5 1/3 innings. “Obviously he’s 95-to-97 with a pretty good breaking ball.

“When a guy with that kind of stuff is putting it where he wants to, you’re not going to get many pitches to hit. It’s pretty hard to hit when they’re doing that. I think he located well with both pitches … with (his fastball) and kind of the wipe-out breaking ball. He was getting a lot of swings and misses.”

This was a tremendous rebound outing for Loaisiga, who had allowed three runs over 3 2/3 innings facing Seattle his last time out on June 20 after working five shutout innings in a winning major league debut against Tampa Bay on June 15.

This time, Loaisiga retired the first 12 Phillies that he faced, seven by strikeout, and took a no-hitter into the sixth.

Phillies catcher Jorge Alfaro broke up the no-no with a line single to start the home sixth, then Loaisiga walked pinch-hitter Aaron Altherr to put two on with nobody out.

With Loaisiga’s pitch count at 86 on a night in which the Yankees wanted to keep in the low 90s tops, manager Aaron Boone went to his bullpen.

Righty David Robertson came on and retired three in a row to keep it a clean pitching line for Loaisiga, who lowered his ERA to 1.93.

Afterward, Yankees manager Aaron Boone raved about Loaisiga, who replaced injured righty Masahiro Tanaka in the rotation.

“In his first two outings … I felt he nibbled a little bit with his fastball,” Boone said. “I thought he was a lot more assertive (against the Phillies) and a lot more aggressive with his fastball in challenging the strike zone with it. And then we saw a number of really good breaking balls. We saw some good changeups.

“And when he got in some put-away counts, I felt like he did a better job of making it look like a strike out of the hand, which is something that you’ve got to be better at up here in the big leagues.

“Down in the minor leagues, guys will tend to chase pitches that can be a ball out of the hand with two strikes. Here, you’ve got to make it a little better. I thought he did a really good job with that.”

Loaisiga has become the fifth Yankees rookie to make a major contribution this season, joining second baseman Gleyber Torres, third baseman Miguel Andujar, first baseman Tyler Austin (now in Triple-A) and right-handed starter Domingo German.

Loaisiga has been so good in two of his three starts that it makes you wonder if he could remain in the rotation over the talented but inconsistent German when Tanaka returns sometime next month.

“That’s not the focus at all,” Loaisiga said. “The focus is about getting your job done and taking it one day at a time. Execute one pitch at a time. That’s the way I see it. When (Tanaka) is coming back, when he doesn’t come back … it’s out of my control, so why waste my time thinking about that stuff?”

Yankees GM Brian Cashman is the one who will have to think this through when Tanaka returns, and so far Loaisiga is making a good case that he deserves more big-league starts. His 1.93 ERA is over a small sample size, but still best among Yankees starters.

“I know what I think of him and I know what I think of his ability and his potential,” Boone said of Loaisiga. “So to see him go out there and really pitch as well as he did (against the Phillies), I think everyone got a little peak at why we’re so excited about him.”

Randy Miller may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.