Skip to main content
Inside The Rangers

Rangers Notes: Nathan Eovaldi’s Awful First-Inning Wasn’t a Career First

Texas Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi found himself on the receiving end of a bad first inning on Friday night against the Athletics.
Matt Postins|
Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
Texas Rangers pitcher Nathan Eovaldi. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

In this story:

Texas Rangers

The first inning of Friday’s game was rough on Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.

Of the first seven pitches he threw, three went out of the yard, courtesy of Athletics sluggers Nick Kurtz, Carlos Cortes and Tyler Soderstrom. All three were solo home runs and gave the A’s a 3-0 lead that eventually turned into a 8-1 Rangers loss.

For the moment, the Athletics (14-12) have a one-game lead over the Rangers (13-13) in the AL West.

Eovaldi’s issue in the first inning was location. Kurtz slammed a four-seam fastball located just inside the heart of the plate. Cortes hit a splitter over the middle while Soderstrom hit a four-seamer just over the middle. Home runs have emerged as the right-hander’s biggest issue so far this season. He’s allowed nine home runs in his first six starts. Last season he only allowed 10 home runs in 22 starts.

"Some of the pitches that me made middle in to the lefties he got hurt by," Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said.

Per Shawn McFarland of The Dallas Morning News on X (formerly Twitter), it was the fourth time in his career that he’s allowed three home runs in an inning. He also did so with the New York Yankees (2016), the Tampa Bay Rays (2018) and the Boston Red Sox (2022).

The best Eovaldi could do on Friday was preserve the bullpen, as he went six innings, gave up six hits, six earned runs and a walk. He struck out three.

Inside the Park Roster

Texas Rangers batter Evan Carter swings his bat at a baseball.
Texas Rangers batter Evan Carter. | Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

Evan Carter’s inside-the-park home run on Thursday was notable for a couple of reasons. First, it was the fifth in the history of Globe Life Field, which is the most at any stadium since 2022.

Second, four of the players that have hit inside-the-park home runs at GLF are on the Rangers’ roster — Carter, Wyatt Langford (April 28, 2024), Josh Smith (July 11, 2022) and Sam Haggerty (July 14, 2022, with the Seattle Mariners).

So, who’s the fifth? Per Rangers notes, it was Atlanta’s Travis Demeritte on April 29, 2022.

Bullpen Coverage

Texas Rangers pitcher Cal Quantrill prepares to throw a baseball.
Texas Rangers pitcher Cal Quantrill. | Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

The Rangers could use more coverage from their starting rotation. While Eovaldi had his worst outing of the season, he did give Texas six innings. Then, manager Skip Schumaker turned it over to Cal Quantrill for three innings.

That hasn’t been uncommon this season. Entering the game the Rangers led Major League bullpens with 11 games of three or more innings of scoreless work. Detroit had 10 going into Friday.

The Rangers are on a pace they’ve never been on before. They’ve never had 11 games like that in the first 25 games of the season. It better the record of 10 set in … 2023. Just saying.

Here’s the Latest Rangers News and Stories (click the headline for the full article):

Rangers Now Perilously Thin at Key Position after Trade with Blue Jays

Evan Carter’s Recent Performance is Thrilling for Rangers’ Future Goals

Why Rangers Shouldn't Be Concerned About Nathan Eovaldi’s Slow Start

Rangers Notes: Peyton Gray Latest Rookie Reliever to Earn MLB Promotion

Rangers Will Miss Wyatt Langford’s Slugging During Injured List Stint

Rangers place Robert Garcia on IL with Left Shoulder Inflammation

Rangers Quietly Activate Former First-Round Pick at Triple-A Round Rock

Rangers Notes: Josh Jung Changes Narrative Again with Latest Home Run

The Numbers Behind Rangers Reliever Jacob Latz’s Brilliant Start

Rangers Moving Wyatt Langford to Injured List with Flexor Strain

Two Numbers Say Rangers Slugger Corey Seager Will Emerge from Slump

Rangers Tweets of the Day                                                                     

It was the first City Connect Friday of the season and everyone was showing off the new Rangers red jerseys. Former Rangers player Yovani Gallardo joined Rangers Sports Network’s Jared Sandler during pre-game.

A close up view of Evan Carter’s uniform.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Loading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations

Published
Matthew Postins
MATT POSTINS

Matthew Postins is an award-winning sports journalist who covers Major League Baseball for OnSI. He also covers the Big 12 Conference for Heartland College Sports.

Share on XFollow postinspostcard
Home/News