Texas Rangers Make History With Dominant Starting Pitching Performance

The Texas Rangers starting staff has set a franchise record through the first 31 games of the season.

Apr 30, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) throws during the first inning against the Oakland Athletics at Globe Life Field. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

The quality of starting pitching for the Texas Rangers has been a season-long topic, and for good reason. The arms have been phenomenal.

The Rangers reached a new high in their latest outing, despite losing to the Athletics. Nathan Eovaldi turned in another gem to push the starters’ collective ERA to a place that’s never been reached in franchise history.

The Texas starting pitchers own a 2.99 ERA, which is the lowest for any Washington/Texas rotation through the club’s first 31 games ever. The starters have allowed only 53 earned runs in 159.2 innings.

That the club is flirting with .500 is almost criminal considering what the starters are doing on the bump. The Rangers are 16-15 after Wednesday night’s 7-1 setback.  

“I think we’ve been throwing the ball great, right?” Eovaldi said, according to MLB.com. “But at the end of the day, it comes down to the win-loss record. Our job is to keep us in the game. We can’t score the runs, but we can keep us in there as long as possible. I think that’s one of the things that we’ve been doing really well.”

Eovaldi did not factor into the decision despite notching his team-leading fifth quality start of the season. The veteran righty tossed six innings and allowed just one earned run, striking out eight and not issuing a walk.

He retired the A’s on eight pitches in the first and struck out the side in the second before allowing a Jacob Wilson RBI single in the third. That was all the damage against Eovaldi. He’s the only MLB pitcher this season with as many as three starts with at least six innings, eight punchouts and no walks (credit TruMedia).

Wasting that kind of showing from Eovaldi, the Rangers faltered late and the bats failed to show up … again. The A’s scored six runs and hit two home runs in a decisive ninth inning, with most of the damage coming against closer Luke Jackson.

“Our pitching staff has kept us in every ballgame, and they’ve done a tremendous job,” Josh Jung said, according to MLB.com. “Now, as an offense, we need to take some of the pressure off them, because I’m sure pitching in one or two run games every night isn’t fun. There’s very little room for error. They’ve been throwing the heck out of the ball. It’s all you can ask for. As an offense, it’s our job to start building wins. Ultimately, when we get more opportunities with runners in scoring position, we need to produce.”

More Rangers On SI

feed