Nathan Eovaldi throws two perfect innings in exhibition debut

TAMPA, Fla. — Nathan Eovaldi’s debut couldn’t have gone much better. The righthander, 14-3 with a 4.20 ERA last season before being shut down Sept. 6 with right elbow inflammation, pitched two perfect innings in the Yankees’ 11-4 loss to the Blue Jays on Thursday at Steinbrenner Field. He threw 22 pitches, 15 for strikes, and got his fastball up to 99 mph.

“He threw the ball great,” Brian McCann said. “We mixed in all his pitches. I thought his slider was great today. First time on the mound, so it was nice to get him out there.”

Eovaldi, 26, was sidelined for a week earlier in camp because of groin tightness, something he said he no longer feels.

He said his goal in the offseason was to work on his slider to give him another pitch to go with his sometimes too-straight fastball and splitter, one of his best pitches last season.

“The split was a huge part of the deal for me last year and my slider wasn’t that great toward the end of the year,” he said. “I got good results with the slider [Thursday] but the splitter wasn’t where I wanted it to be, but it’s early in the spring.”

Pitching coach Larry Rothschild didn’t see much wrong. “I thought he was really good,” he said. “Like he does, throwing hard right out of the chute. All of the stuff was there.”

Extra bases

New second baseman Starlin Castro got the start at shortstop and went 3-for-3 with three RBIs in the Yankees’ 4-4 split-squad tie against the Orioles in Sarasota. Castro is 6-for-14 (.429) in five games . . . Masahiro Tanaka will make his second start Friday against the Orioles at Steinbrenner Field and will throw three innings or 45 pitches . . . Carlos Beltran went 2-for-3 with an RBI to improve to 5-for-12 (.417) in four games.

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.