Ex-Red Sox All-Star Hurler Dominates Rays To Clinch ALDS Berth
The Boston Red Sox let a star-caliber pitcher walk in the offseason, and he's once again proving why it was a mistake.
Much fanfare was made of the Red Sox's decision to let Nathan Eovaldi walk in free agency. Those who questioned the move were vindicated by the right-hander's All-Star campaign -- which he just put an exclamation point on in his first postseason appearance for Texas.
Eovaldi took the mound Wednesday in what would become a 7-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays to eliminate his former American League East foe. The 33-year-old allowed only six hits and recorded eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings pitched, leading the Rangers to the American League Divisional Series.
After signing with the Rangers last offseason, Eovaldi posted a 3.63 ERA with a 132-to-47 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .225 batting average against and 1.14 WHIP in 144 innings pitched across 25 games.
Throughout the 2023 season, the Red Sox struggled to get their starters deep into games and even ran out of hurlers halfway through the season. Boston was forced to deploy a three-man rotation with two openers on each turn just to get through the dog days of summer. This may have been at least slightly prevented if Eovaldi had stayed with the club.
There seemingly was mutual interest last winter but negotiations reportedly went awry when Eovaldi's agents held out too long in free agency for a bigger deal, which led to the Red Sox pulling back their offer and allocating funds elsewhere.
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