ARLINGTON, Texas — Rangers manager Skip Schumaker did not have closer Jacob Latz or Robert Garcia available Wednesday night, so he gave Nathan Eovaldi the final 4 innings. Eovaldi held the Boston Red Sox to 1 hit, and the Texas Rangers won 7-3 at Globe Life Field.
Eovaldi (11-9) entered with the game tied 3-3 in the sixth inning. It was his second relief appearance since Texas activated him from the 15-day injured list Sept. 12.
The crowd reaction when Eovaldi came in from the bullpen gave the Rangers a boost in a big series, Schumaker said.
“He had around 60 or so pitches to work with,” Schumaker said. “And once we got into the game where it was we need four innings or it got tied up, just felt like he was the guy to take us to the end. We didn’t have Latz available. We didn’t have Garcia available today. Junis, I know he had the balk and dropped the ball, but that was a huge inning to minimize the damage.”
“We come back, we get a run scored,” Schumaker continued. “And then Evo was easily an easy decision to come out there and provide some length and to hopefully keep us there so we could score some runs and have to make a decision at the end if you ran out of pitches. But he was so good.”
“I heard the crowd when he came in, coming from the bullpen,” Schumaker added. “That was pretty exciting. I think it all gave us a boost of energy as well in a big series. And what he provided was enormous just because we were a little bit limited in the back end.”
Jacob Latz And Robert Garcia Pitched Tuesday
On Tuesday night, Latz got the final 5 outs for his 30th save in 33 chances. His 13 saves of 1 1/3 innings or more lead the majors, MLB.com reported.
Garcia got one out in the eighth inning of that game and allowed a single and a walk. On Sept. 12 at Chase Field, he picked up his first win of the season, the same night Eovaldi returned.
Jakob Junis relieved MacKenzie Gore in the fifth Wednesday. With a runner on third, Junis dropped the ball while on the rubber, and the balk put Boston ahead 3-2. Texas tied it in the bottom of the inning.
Nathan Eovaldi Worked With A Pitch Count
Eovaldi spoke with Rangers Sports Network after the game. With a tie game in front of him, keeping the pitch count down was part of his plan.
“With the tie ball game, I was just trying to go in there and try to get as [many] fast outs as possible,” Eovaldi said. “Try to keep the pitch count down and make sure to try to get as many innings as I could.”
In his first game back Sept. 12, Eovaldi threw 45 pitches over 2 2/3 innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He allowed 4 hits and 1 earned run and struck out 2. It was his first appearance since Aug. 7 and his first regular-season relief outing since 2019 with Boston.
On Monday, Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young said on 105.3 The Fan’s G-Bag Nation that Eovaldi could move into a longer role by the end of the week if he went unused for a day or two.
Before the injury, Eovaldi was 10-9 with a 4.21 ERA and 137 strikeouts over 22 starts. The 36-year-old is in the second season of a three-year, $75 million contract.
At 76-76, Texas is tied with the Houston Astros for first place in the American League West. Houston holds the tiebreaker.
Schumaker said after the game that Cody Bradford would start Thursday’s series finale, Jeff Wilson of DLLS Sports reported. The club later announced left-hander Tyler Alexander as its scheduled starter against Boston right-hander Sonny Gray. First pitch is 7:05 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network.
