Texas Rangers Ace Sets Tone for Starting Rotation in Opening Day Loss

The Texas Rangers fell on opening day but their starting pitcher got the rotation off to a great start against the Boston Red Sox.

Mar 27, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) throws a pitch in the first inning against the Boston Red Sox at Globe Life Field. | Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

ARLINGTON, Texas — Thursday was the perfect example of your past converging with your present for Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.  

It was Eovaldi’s fifth opening-day start and his second with the Rangers, as he took the ball last opening day.

He other three opening-day starts came with Thursday’s opponent, the Boston Red Sox.

In fact, Eovaldi has been the opening-day starter five of the last six seasons, with 2023 being the only exception. Jacob deGrom drew that start with the Rangers.

In his first four opening-day starts, the 35-year-old right-hander was 1-1 with a 2.82 ERA. Last year against the Chicago Cubs he allowed two runs on four hits and a walk in six innings. He also struck out three.

He blew away last year’s strikeout total in the first two innings, as Eovaldi struck out four of the six hitters he faced. Red Sox hitters swung and missed at seven of his offerings, with six of them being his curveball.

“I made an adjustment yesterday just playing catch at the release point and then I was able to roll that into today and into the bullpen,” he said. “I had a really good feel for it.”

He worked around back-to-back singles to open the third, giving up just one run on a fielder’s choice groundout.

He also gave up a fifth-inning solo home run to Wilyer Abreu. While he didn’t figure in the decision — the Rangers lost, 5-2 — he tied the record for the most strikeouts by a Rangers starting pitcher on opening day by fanning nine Red Sox.

Lance Lynn was the last to strike out nine on opening day in 2020.

But it was the lack of a shutdown inning that ate at Eovaldi afterward.

The Rangers gave him leads of 1-0 and 2-1 and in the inning afterward he gave those leads up.

“We score first twice and the very next thing I gave it up,” he said. “Frustrating, you know what I mean? I feel like the biggest thing in baseball is a shut-down inning, get the boys back in the dugout and keep it rolling.”

In six crisp innings the right-hander gave up three hits, two runs and a walk. He leaned heavily into the four-seam fastball (38%) and the curveball (25.3%) and it gave hitters problems most of the game. He topped out at 96 mph and got his curveball down to 75 mph at one point. He also had 17 swing-and-misses in 87 pitches.

Eovaldi became the seventh pitcher in team history to start back-to-back opening days and the first since Kevin Millwood started four straight opening days from 2006-09. The others are Ken Hill, Nolan Ryan, Charlie Hough, Jon Matlack and Dick Bosman.

The Rangers have seen this before from Eovaldi, even if it didn’t result in a win. He certainly set the tone for the rotation, which picks up on Friday with Jack Leiter.

“That was vintage Nate,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “He did a terrific job, threw strikes with all of his pitches. … he gave us a chance to win, he gave us some length and he gave us what we were hoping for.”