ARLINGTON, Texas — Nathan Eovaldi pitched the sixth inning Saturday on two days of rest because that was where the Texas Rangers had planned to use him, manager Skip Schumaker said Sunday. The assignment put the right-hander into the heart of the Toronto Blue Jays order with a lead.
Eovaldi had thrown 46 pitches over 4 scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday.
On The Skip Schumaker Show, the pregame segment Rangers Sports Network posts, Schumaker said the plan was to hand Eovaldi the toughest lane if Texas still led after the fifth, with Robert Garcia and Jacob Latz lined up behind him.
“What you saw. What you saw was the plan. If we had a lead after the fifth, give it to Ivo in pretty much the toughest lane,” Schumaker said. “He got the toughest lane with the Springer, Kirk, and Vlad. And obviously a couple lefties, Bateman at the top.”
“So that was the plan, getting him at least one inning, see where we’re at with the lead, if we could expand or not, and then give it to Garcia and Lats,” Schumaker continued. “But giving him one inning in the heart of the order was kind of the plan.”
George Springer, Alejandro Kirk, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit second through fourth in Toronto’s order Saturday, with Brett Bateman leading off.
Nathan Eovaldi’s Sixth Inning Against The Toronto Blue Jays
Eovaldi opened the sixth by hitting Andrés Giménez with a curveball. Giménez moved to second on a one-out single, Toronto’s first hit of the night, and scored on Kirk’s two-out single to center field.
Garcia gave up a pinch-hit solo home run to Davis Schneider in the seventh to make it 6-2. Chase Silseth and Latz each pitched a scoreless inning to close it out.
Eovaldi missed a month this season with right posterior elbow inflammation. He has 137 strikeouts in 2026.
Texas Rangers Bullpen Load In The Toronto Blue Jays Series
Cal Quantrill left Saturday’s game with right lat tightness after getting one out in the second inning, and five relievers covered the final 7 2/3 innings of the 6-2 win. Jordan Montgomery threw 3 2/3 hitless innings of that total.
A Rangers reliever had tossed four or more scoreless innings in three straight games before Quantrill’s exit, MLB.com reported. Trevor Williams covered the last 4 innings of Friday’s 7-1 win.
Jacob deGrom (11-9, 3.79 ERA) starts the finale at 1:35 p.m. CT on Rangers Sports Network, with the roof closed. Toronto is going with a bullpen day behind right-hander Spencer Miles. Texas (78-77) leads the Houston Astros by one game in the American League West with seven to play, and Houston holds the tiebreaker.
