On Monday night in West Sacramento, Nathan Eovaldi looked like the pitcher the Texas Rangers know he is and some.
The 2026 season did not get off to the start that Nathan Eovaldi wanted it to by any means whatsoever.
After struggling in his first two starts, Eovaldi took the mound at Globe Life Field for the first time last week and looked more like himself, going six innings and allowing two runs.
Still, the whole baseball world knows that when Eovaldi is on, opposing offenses often have trouble scoring just one run, let alone two.
On Monday night in West Sacramento, Calif., Eovaldi looked like the pitcher the Rangers know he is and some.
Eovaldi fired seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and two walks while striking out seven in an 8-1 Rangers win over the Athletics.
“I was just trying to use their aggressiveness against them,” Eovaldi said after his strong outing in Sacramento.
“We were able to put up some runs in the first inning, and I was just trying to keep that pressure on them," he said. "I felt like the fastball command was really good, using the cutter and the sinker early in the at-bats, and also the splitter was good.”
Eovaldi very well could have gone out for the eighth inning, but the Rangers batted around in the top half of the inning. With the long wait in the dugout, the Rangers figured it would be best to call it quits with the game well in hand.
Despite what may have been some outside noise regarding Eovaldi and his start, one person who was never phased is his new manager.
“I’m not worried about Evo,” first-year Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “That’s the last guy I was worried about. We’re probably going to get more of these starts than we are the first two starts.”
At times during his outing, Eovaldi seemed frustrated with himself despite the very strong results.
However, despite the dissatisfaction at times, Eovaldi recognizes that he is beginning to get to the places he wants to go.
“I definitely feel a lot more in sync just knowing the shapes of my pitches, knowing what I have to go out there to do, knowing what I have to do mechanically,” Eovaldi said.
“I feel a lot better, and it showed tonight, just being able to be ahead of guys and attack, especially with an aggressive lineup. They're certainly going up there to do damage, and I don't ever have to really give in.”
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