Texas Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi has been dealing so far this season, but Sunday’s outing against the Houston Astros was his worst yet. Their in-state rivals tagged Eovaldi for five earned runs on eight hits in six innings of work as the right-hander ultimately took his first loss of the campaign.
Following the game, Eovaldi spoke on how Houston made his life difficult despite making a lot of good pitches. Via MLB.com:
“One of the frustrating parts about today was I felt like I made good pitches at times and they were still able to put the ball in play,” Eovaldi said. “I feel like that’s one of the things that the Astros do well as a whole. They’re able to expand the strike zone but make it tough at-bats and tough outs.”
Jose Altuve in particular hit Eovaldi around, smacking two home runs out of Minute Maid Park in his first two at-bats. Eovaldi has had success against the veteran at times but as he said, even when he makes good pitches, guys like Altuve can still do damage:
“I think it’s a little back and forth. I feel like I’ll have a stretch, like, where I’m doing well getting him out and then other times where he doesn’t really drop off,” Nathan Eovaldi said. “I think the biggest challenge is the fact that he can expand out of the zone so far and then still do damage. I feel like there’s times where I make good pitches, like the first one today that I felt like I located that ball up and in and he was able to get to it.”
Nathan Eovaldi emerging as Rangers’ ace
Eovaldi has been the Rangers’ best starter so far. After going 12-5 with a 3.63 ERA in 2023 en route to a World Series title, the 34-year-old is 1-1 with a 2.92 ERA in four starts. Sunday was his first outing that wasn’t dominant but even then, Eovaldi still lasted six frames and gave his ball club a chance to win.
Overall, the Rangers do have a top-10 rotation in the Majors right now, but free passes are a problem at times, which has resulted in the bullpen coming into games earlier than desired.
“I feel like the walks have been an issue, where it is uncompetitive,” Eovaldi said. “I, today, had some where it’s a four- or five- or six-pitch walk. When there’s really not anybody on base, then I feel like that kind of opens the floodgates at times when we really have to make good pitches and bear down. It ends up wasting pitches. I feel like we’ve got to do a better job of just attacking the guys in general.”
The bullpen doesn’t have a ton of depth, so it’s very important that the starters be more effective for longer. The Rangers sit at 8-8 but that’s good enough for first place in the American League West. Texas continues their 17 games in 17 days on Monday, so Nathan Eovaldi and Co. must bring their best every single start.
More must-reads: