Rangers’ Nathan Eovaldi returns to face past demons, blanks nemesis Astros originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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This time, Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi didn’t let the Houston Astros‘ lineup get the best of him.
Of course, it helped Sunday that long-time nemesis Jose Altuve did not play after exiting the previous outing with a left side injury, but Eovaldi helped exorcise some past demons by pitching seven shutout innings, leading the Rangers to 8-0 victory at Daikin Park.
Returning to the rotation after missing last Monday’s start, Eovaldi (5-4) yielded just five hits, striking out eigth and walking two as the Rangers avoided a three-game sweep.
Eovaldi continued his recent surge, surrendering just one earned run over his past three starts, covering 22 innings. Throughout his 15-year major league career, however, Eovaldi endured a shaky history against the Astros, specifically Altuve, designated hitter Yordan Alvarez and first baseman Christian Walker.
Entering Sunday, Altuve was 19-for-58 against Eovaldi with two doubles and seven home runs. Alvarez was 12-for-20 with three doubles and two homers and Walker was 6-for-14 with one double and two homers.
In a competitive twist, Alvarez on Sunday went hitless in three at-bats, striking out twice, and Walker went 0-for-2 with a strikeout.
Rangers SP Nathan Eovaldi suffocates Astros
It hasn’t always been the way for Eovaldi when he faced the Astros.
On Sept. 5, 2023, the Astros, powered by Altuve homering three times in the opening three innings, scored three runs during each of the first three innings against Eovaldi, rolling to a 13-4 win at Globe Life Field.
In 1.1 innings, Eovaldi yielded four earned runs off five hits, allowing Altuve’s first two homers.
On May 17, 2022, as a member of the Boston Red Sox, Eovaldi needed just five pitches to escape the first inning against the visiting Astros. In the second, things changed. He surrendered five homers as part of a nine-run second inning, establishing a franchise mark and tying an MLB record for allowing the most homers in a frame.
Eovaldi, who worked 1.2 innings and gave up eight hits and nine runs (six earned), became the third pitcher in league history to yield five homers in an inning, joining New York Yankees‘ Chase Anderson (Sept. 17, 2020) and Michael Blazek (July 28, 2017)
The host Astros (19-29) limited the offensively-challenged Rangers (22-24 to just one combined run Friday and Saturday, capturing the first two games of the series between AL West rivals.
Eovaldi returned to the rotation in time to buck his recent history against the Astros.
