Yankees feel Camilo Doval is ‘close to being dialed in’ despite allowing second straight late homer

Camilo Doval took home the win on Friday, but not before suffering his second blown save of the season.

Trying to protect a slim one-run Yankees lead in the top of the eighth, Doval retired the first two Royals he faced on just seven pitches before allowing a game-tying solo shot to Vinnie Pasquantino.

Doval fell behind Pasquantino 2-0 and the lefty made him pay, crushing a 2-0 sinker low in the zone 339 feet to right.

He retired the next batter to keep things evened, but this marks the second straight outing allowing a back-breaking blast, as Mike Trout jumped him for a go-ahead two-run shot in the eighth inning of Monday’s back-and-forth affair.

Just like Monday, the Yanks’ offense did well to pick him up, as they jumped back in front in the bottom half of the inning on Ryan McMahon’s go-ahead two-run homer and never looked back to secure the series-opening victory.

Doval continues to be a bit of a concern, though, allowing seven runs over his last seven outings.

Despite that, Aaron Boone actually likes how he’s looked the last two times out.

“Really it’s back-to-back outings where I think he’s been really good, really sharp,” the skipper said. “The strike throwing is there, but Trout got him and then he did fall behind Pasquantino and just missed in his slug zone.

“The three outs around that were really good -- so look, I know he’s gotten hurt with a couple of long balls in some outings here, but also I feel like he’s close to being really dialed in.”

Doval is now up to a 7.56 ERA through his first 10 appearances (8.1 IP), but he’ll continue to serve as one of the Yanks' go-to arms bridging the gap to closer David Bednar in the late-innings.

“He’s gonna be in the fire,” Boone said. “The good thing he has all the things to get it done -- if he can add that layer of consistency, they stuff and the way he’s throwing is there.”