ARLINGTON, Texas — Nathan Eovaldi will pitch this week in games the Texas Rangers are winning, manager Skip Schumaker said Tuesday. Schumaker would not commit to a role for the right-hander over the final six games of the regular season.
Schumaker gave the update on The Skip Schumaker Show, the pregame segment Rangers Sports Network posts before games, ahead of Tuesday’s series opener against the New York Mets. Texas has not named starters for Wednesday or Thursday. Schumaker said the club has been setting its rotation day to day for about a week or two.
Schumaker said he knows Eovaldi will be available. He said the role is still to be announced.
“I have an idea. Yeah, I have an idea,” Schumaker said. “He’s going to pitch. I know that. And he’s going to pitch in winning games because I trust him. So whether or not that’s out of the bullpen, starting, a mix, I have an idea, but we kind of watch the game, see how it plays out.”
Nathan Eovaldi’s Return From Elbow Inflammation
Texas placed Eovaldi on the 15-day injured list Aug. 10, retroactive to Aug. 9, with right posterior elbow inflammation. His last start came Aug. 7 in a 2-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles, when he allowed 4 hits and 1 earned run over 5 1/3 innings with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts.
The Rangers skipped a minor league rehab assignment and activated him Sept. 12 in Phoenix. Before that game, Schumaker told Rangers Sports Network that Eovaldi would come out of the bullpen. He said the job would change from day to day.
“I think you’ll see him out of the bullpen,” Schumaker said then. “Other than that, I think you’ll have to watch it and see exactly how we use him because I think it’s going to be different daily. It could be either opener, it could be leverage out of the pen, it could be multiple innings.”
Eovaldi made his first relief appearance since 2019 that night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He threw 2 2/3 innings and allowed 4 hits and 1 earned run with 2 strikeouts. On Sept. 16 against the Boston Red Sox, he threw 4 scoreless innings in relief and retired the final 11 batters he faced in a 7-3 win.
That was Eovaldi’s first relief win since Aug. 14, 2019. He became the first Rangers pitcher since Jamey Wright on Sept. 25, 2007, to earn a win with 4 or more scoreless innings to finish a game, MLB.com reported. Before the injury, Eovaldi went 10-9 with a 4.21 ERA and 137 strikeouts over 132 2/3 innings in 22 starts. He started on opening day for the third straight season in 2026.
Rangers Rotation Day To Day In Final Week
Cal Quantrill moved to the 60-day injured list Tuesday with a right lat strain. Left-hander Jordan Montgomery recorded 11 outs in relief after Quantrill left Saturday’s start. President of baseball operations Chris Young said Monday that Jacob deGrom will pitch one of the final six games.
MacKenzie Gore starts Tuesday’s opener at 7:05 p.m. CT. Texas (78-78) leads the Houston Astros by one game in the American League West, though Houston holds the tiebreaker. After the Mets series, the Rangers finish the regular season with three games against the Minnesota Twins from Sept. 25-27.
