Yankees' Jonathan Loaisiga shines in win over Rays

by Felix Pantaleón

Jonathan Loaisiga, in his first MLB start, throws five scoreless innings as the Yankees beat the Rays, 5-0, at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Didi Gregorius homered. Gary Sanchez hit a three-run double.

NEW YORK — The Evil Empire? Or is it the Evil Assembly Line?

The Yankees grabbed yet another victory Friday — beating the Rays, 5-0, at Yankee Stadium — in what’s been a remarkable season.

Even more incredible is that their player development system produced yet another talent that starred for them.

This time, it was 23-year-old Jonathan Loaisiga, throwing five scoreless innings in his first big-league start.

And while other rookies who have played huge roles this year — such as Gleyber Torres, Miguel Andujar and Domingo German — had lots of minor-league work before reaching the majors, Loaisiga did it after skipping Triple-A and with just 35 professional outings under his spikes.

Didi Gregorius homered in the third inning, Giancarlo Stanton had a sixth-inning sacrifice fly to score Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez hit a three-run double in the eighth.

What it means

The Yankees’ bullpen turned in four scoreless frames from four different arms — Jonathan Holder, David Robertson, Dellin Betances and Adam Warren.

The Yankees won for the third time in four games and eight of their last 10.

They have the game’s best record at 45-20 but they started the day a full game behind the Red Sox in the American League East due to rained out games.

Big L

The Yankees couldn’t have asked more from Loaisiga, who became the 15th player from Nicaragua to reach the majors.

They had low expectations for him going into the game.

“Hopefully he can have his butterflies in check and still attack the strike zone and if he does that,” general manager Brian Cashman said, “he’ll give us a chance to give our offense a chance.”

Loaisiga did way more.

He struck out six and gave up three hits while walking four. The Rays didn’t get their first hit off him until Wilson Ramo’s line-drive single to start the fourth.

That inning, Loaisiga worked out of a loaded the bases with two outs before striking out Christian Arroyo to end the threat. The final pitch was an 84-mph slider, Loaisiga’s 91st of the night — more than any pitch total he had in the minors this year.

Loaisiga hit 98 mph several times. According to researcher Katie Sharp, Loaisiga is the second Yankee to make his big-league debut as a starter at home and allow no runs. The other was Sam Milltello on Aug. 9, 1992, against the Red Sox. The last Yankees pitcher to debut with less pro experience than Loaisiga was Ian Kennedy in 2009.

Loaisiga got the start in place of the injured Masahiro Tanaka (two strained hamstrings). It’s likely Loaisiga will continue in Tanaka’s rotation spot until he’s healthy. Cashman on Friday said Tanaka might not return for a few weeks.

You should know

In the eighth, the Yankees loaded the bases against ex-Yankee starter Nathan Eovaldi, who went seven innings. After lefty reliever Jonny Venters struck out Greg Bird, Gary Sanchez smoked a bases-clearing double to put the Yankees ahead, 5-0.

Before the at-bat, Sanchez had been mired in a terrible slump, with just four hits in 58 at-bats (.068 batting average).

It started with Judge’s single and was followed by a Gregorius single. The throw from right field skipped past the third baseman. Judge was safe at third and Gregorius moved to second, setting up Eovaldi to intentionally walk Giancarlo Stanton.

The Yankees’ five runs were the most they scored in a game since a 7-2 win June 6 in Toronto.

Gregorius had three hits. Stanton and Aaron Hicks were the only hitless Yankees.

NEXT

Saturday: Yankees righty Luis Severino (9-2, 2.27 ERA) vs. TBA Rays pitcher, 1:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium.

Sunday: Yankees lefty CC Sabathia (4-1, 3.27 ERA) vs. TBA Rays pitcher, 2:05 p.m., Yankee Stadium.

Brendan Kuty may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @BrendanKutyNJ. Find NJ.com Yankees on Facebook.