ANAHEIM, Calif. – The Rangers had opened this critical road trip with consecutive losses, the latter of which created its own baseball bloopers reel. They are about to head into their own Devil’s den to face the team standing between them and a playoff spot.
So, yeah, Wednesday was kind of a big game and, by now, you know what big games call for around these parts.
Big Game Nate.
While the Rangers had weighed the possibility of moving Nathan Eovaldi’s start back a day into the more higher-profile series opener at Seattle, manager Bruce Bochy had his own ideas.
Rangers
“Every game is big for us right now,” Bochy had said multiple times when asked about the possibility of moving Eovaldi.
And, so, on Wednesday, Eovaldi did what he does. He delivered in a 6-3 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. He’s been doing it for three years now for the Rangers, but in July, as the Rangers have scrambled back into playoff contention, he’s done it at a different level.
The win on Wednesday might have even qualified as a big game personally for Eovaldi. The win gave him 100 for his career, making him the 20th active player with at least 100. It will make something nice to look back on.
In the meantime, he’s singularly focused on returning to the postseason. His July performance indicates hyper awareness. His outing Wednesday actually raised his ERA for the month – to 0.59. He won his fifth consecutive decision of the month. It is the second-lowest monthly ERA for a pitcher in Rangers history with at least five starts in a month.
And that’s just this month. Eovaldi has not lost since May and that was a 1-0 decision in Yankee Stadium. He has allowed one or fewer runs in 12 of his last 13 starts. His season ERA is 1.48 for 103 innings. He’s six innings shy of qualifying for the league leaders, and he would lead the majors by nearly half a run over Paul Skenes.
On Wednesday, the Rangers offense was jittery for much of the game, twice leaving runners on third with less than two outs and generating only a run in the first five innings. But Eovaldi didn’t allow them to fall behind. After giving up the game-tying run on a two-out rally in the fifth, he retired nine of the final 10 hitters he faced. The one he did allow to reach was erased on a double-play grounder.
The Rangers finally responded for him with a run in the sixth on an Angels error and a run-scoring single by Marcus Semien that gave them the lead. They secured it with four runs in the eighth, the first two coming a homer by Adolis García.
By that time, the Rangers had already made the decision to turn to the bullpen in the bottom of the eighth. And with good reason. It was no longer a big game. It was just mop-up time.
Eovaldi had done his job. Again.