MINNEAPOLIS — Nathan Eovaldi had not thrown more than 46 pitches in any outing since coming off the injured list. On Saturday, in his first start since Aug. 7, he held the Minnesota Twins to 1 run on 4 hits over 4 1/3 innings as the Texas Rangers won 6-2 at Target Field to force a Game 162 in the American League West race.
Elbow inflammation put the 36-year-old right-hander on the injured list for more than a month after his Aug. 7 start. He returned as a reliever on Sept. 12 and made four appearances out of the bullpen before Saturday. The only run against him came in the first inning, when Luke Keaschall doubled, took third on a groundout, and scored on an RBI groundout by Kody Clemens.
Skip Schumaker Leaves Nathan Eovaldi In As Bullpen Warms
Rangers manager Skip Schumaker had relievers warming more than once during the outing. He said Eovaldi’s start was where the Rangers’ fight began Saturday.
“All started with Evo, and what he provided was just insane,” Schumaker said. “I mean, that was one of the gutsiest performances I’ve seen in a long time.”
The four-run second inning, Schumaker said, let him mix and match and hold relievers back for later, as he did with left-hander Robert Garcia.
“You trust the player. You trust the person. You trust the competitor. And you have to line it up as best you can to get through the game as well,” Schumaker explained. “And so once we got out to that lead, you could play around a little bit with kind of matching up and hoping that you can save some guys for a little bit later like we did with Garcia, which, by the way, provided a gigantic double play ball to get out of an inning.”
“But what Evo did, I mean, I didn’t know if he was going to go two innings, maybe three,” he continued. “And what he did was, again, so impressive. It was great.”
Garcia (2-1) followed with 1 2/3 scoreless innings and got the win. Jakob Junis also pitched in relief. Tyler Alexander allowed Minnesota’s second run in the eighth, and Jacob Latz struck out the side in a perfect ninth.
Danny Jansen Calls Nathan Eovaldi ‘A Dog’
Danny Jansen caught Eovaldi and homered in the fourth inning. He said Eovaldi is huge for the Rangers and does so much for the club.
“All of them. He’s a dog,” Jansen said. “It’s him getting the ball, Big Game Nate. A lot of fun to have him, obviously, and he’s huge for us. He does so much for us, and to have him get the ball for us today was incredible.”
Between innings, Eovaldi said, there was no need to talk his way into staying in. His pitch count stayed relatively low, he felt himself getting better as the game went on, and his curveball, splitter, and cutter all felt good.
“I mean, I was confident that I’d be able to have a high pitch count. I felt good,” Eovaldi said. “Given where we are right now and these must-need wins, it was more so just trying to get as fast of outs as possible and make it hard for them to take the ball away.”
Early on, Eovaldi said, the Twins were making hard contact against him. Texas turned double plays behind him, and Jake Burger made a diving stop at first base.
“We were able to get some big double play balls. Zeke had the one, and then Burger with the diving play, and then Nimmo out there in the outfield too,” Eovaldi said. “We’ve got to have it. We’ve got to come up with those big plays.”
Eovaldi remains 11-10 on the season after taking a no-decision. Left-hander MacKenzie Gore starts Sunday’s finale at 2:10 p.m. CT. Texas needs a win and a Houston Astros loss to take the division.
