Texas Rangers Destined for October with Nathan Eovaldi Back in Action

Stress and anxiety roam freely in the minds of Texas Rangers fans. Their team’s playoff outlook changes seemingly nightly; one brief losing streak at this juncture in the season could upend all hope for October baseball. Thank goodness they have Nathan Eovaldi on their side.

Eovaldi is like a cup of hot cocoa on a cold winter’s night, or an ice cold beer after a stressful day at work. He’s exactly what the Rangers need at exactly the right time.

Take last night for example. The Rangers took the field in what felt like a must-win game (aren’t they all at this point?), standing one game back of the Astros in the AL West and a game and a half behind the White Sox in the wildcard race. Mackenzie Gore started and struggled, allowing three runs in four innings. The game was tied entering the sixth inning, when Eovaldi took the mound.

He immediately faced adversity, allowing a leadoff single and a hit by pitch two batters later. Runners on first and second with one out, Eovaldi got Adley Rutschman to fly out to left and Caleb Durbin to ground out. Crisis averted.

Eovaldi pitched downhill from there, allowing no runs on no hits in the closing three frames. The Rangers offense tacked on three runs in the seventh inning and one in the eighth. Texas won the game 7-3, thanks to shutdown pitching and timely hitting. The Astros lost their game later that night, and the Rangers were tied for first in the division.

Watching Eovaldi navigate the Red Sox lineup for four innings in relief provided a strong sense of comfort. It felt like the game was in his hands, and he was going to come out victorious. The feeling extends beyond a single outing. Having “Big Game Nate” back in the mix, ready to fulfill his responsibilities in whatever shape or form, makes a playoff berth seem likely. He creates that level of confidence.

The Rangers are a better team with Eovaldi. They may become a playoff team with how they’re deploying him. Texas creates several advantages by using Eovaldi as a reliever.

They can go to arguably their best pitcher in critical moments in the game, leaning on him to hold a narrow lead or keep the Rangers within reach of a possible comeback.

Opposing hitters have to face a reliever with a starting pitcher repertoire. Hitters are accustomed to seeing two, maybe three different pitches from a reliever. Eovaldi throws six different pitches, four of them at any given time.

He turns a weakness into a strength. Middle relief has been a pain point for the Rangers for much of the season, and especially in recent weeks. Eovaldi covers that wound, capable of pitching multiple innings per relief appearance.

He’s also renowned for his work in relief, having pitched 6.1 innings for the Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, entering the game in the 12th inning and allowing just one run.

Eovaldi has been a weapon out of the pen for the Rangers already. He’s given up just one run across 6+ innings. The Rangers are 2-0 in his relief appearances.

He’ll be an integral piece on the board for what’s left of the regular season, to get Texas to the postseason. We’ll see how manager Skip Schumaker and the Rangers choose to use Big Game Nate. Whatever role they assign him, expect him to thrive. He often does.