Curvelo has first big league series to remember

This story was excerpted from Kennedi Landry’s Rangers Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

ARLINGTON -- Luis Curvelo donned blue, red and yellow cleats on Thursday night in Seattle, glistening with glitter on the mound at T-Mobile Park.

The game was relatively over by the time Curvelo took the mound, a 6-0 game well before the 24-year-old appeared in the seventh inning. He finished that night with two scoreless frames, allowing just one hit and collecting three strikeouts.

“I was really happy for him,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “He was excited. He was thankful. He thanked me for giving him this chance, and I thought he handled himself so well. He has a good fastball and uses his changeup and slider well. Just a really nice job. … He said things worked hard to get this chance to pitch up here, so he was really, really excited. But he controlled it, and that’s what I liked.”

But it was really two days later that has come to define Curvelo’s first series in the big leagues. The right-hander entered Saturday’s contest in the 10th inning with a 2-0 count on Mariners third baseman Eugenio Suárez after Rangers closer Robert Garcia was forced to leave with mid-back spasms.

Garcia had just blown his second save in as many days in Seattle. Curvelo admitted he was nervous going out there in that situation, with his heart pounding out of his chest -- “100 percent!!” he said in English. But he channeled all his excitement into effort, just hoping to deliver for the team.

“My mentality was to go in there like it was a 0-0 count and attack,” Curvelo said through interpreter Raul Cardenas. “That’s what I did.”

And Curvelo locked in for attack, striking out Suárez to end the frame. That allowed the Rangers to retake the lead in the top of the 11th, and Curvelo delivered a 1-2-3 bottom half to secure his first MLB win.

“I still can’t believe it happened,” Curvelo said. “This has been my dream since I was a little boy. For me to be here and fulfill that, I’m just so happy to experience this. It’s crazy. … When I got to the mound, I had to step off, and look back and take a deep breath. I took my time and did it.”

A native of Higuerote, Venezuela, Curvelo signed with Texas on Nov. 13, 2024. He originally signed a Minor League contract with Seattle as an international free agent on May 22, 2018, and had spent his entire professional career with the organization.

In six Minor League seasons with the Mariners, he compiled a 3.51 ERA in 189 career games (four starts). In 2024 with Double-A Arkansas, he posted a 2.57 ERA over 49 relief appearances, ranking among Texas League pitchers in holds (1st, 14), games (2nd), WHIP (3rd, 0.86), and ERA (11th).

This season, with Triple-A Round Rock, he posted a 3.26 ERA and .211 opponents' batting average in 34 games (all in relief). Over seven outings in July before his callup, Curvelo had permitted just one earned run in 9 2/3 innings for a 0.93 ERA -- the 3rd-lowest mark among Pacific Coast League relievers that month (min. 9.0 IP).

Curvelo said that he’s thankful for every opportunity that the Mariners afforded him for those six seasons, but they didn’t try to re-sign him to a Minor League or Major League deal this offseason. The Rangers -- who scouted him as an amateur -- then swooped in.

It came at the right time for the Rangers.

“This kid comes up and pitches really well,” Bochy said. “We needed it. He's got a lot of enthusiasm, passion, you can see it out there.”