Eovaldi tosses another gem as his sneaky good season continues

ARLINGTON -- Those who haven’t been paying attention to Nathan Eovaldi this season may be shocked to see his name atop the Major League leaderboard in earned run average. Eovaldi pitched another gem in the Rangers’ 4-3 walk-off win Friday over the Guardians, and with a 1.73 ERA in 2025, the Texas right-hander suddenly appeared above Cy Young Award favorites Paul Skenes of the Pirates (2.16) and Tarik Skubal of the Tigers (2.32).

Whether Eovaldi will work his way into award chatter remains to be seen, but manager Bruce Bochy has seen enough to think Eovaldi has earned the right to be in the conversation.

“It’s obvious he’s deserving, but that stuff will take care of itself. ... Nate’s not thinking about that, he’s thinking about winning a ballgame,” Bochy said. “These are things that at the end of the year, they’ll be talked about. But what he’s done for us, it’s just an incredible job that he’s done this year. In the games that we need to win, he just steps up and finds a way.”

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Eovaldi tossed seven one-run innings Friday, scattering four hits. He retired 15 batters in a row after he allowed two doubles to start a shaky second inning as the Guardians scored their only run off him. Eovaldi tied a season high in strikeouts with nine and did not issue a walk.

Eovaldi’s name materialized out of nowhere if you happened to refresh the ERA leaderboard after the top of the seventh inning Friday. But take a screenshot while you can -- his dominance in the ERA category will be short lived, at least until his next start. Eovaldi will vanish from the leaderboard just as quickly Saturday night. His emergence at the top -- and impending departure from the list -- are dictated by MLB Rule 9.22(b), which defines how many innings a pitcher must throw to qualify for the ERA “championship,” as the rulebook calls it.

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However briefly it may be there, for now, Eovaldi said it’s gratifying to have earned the right to have his name atop the earned run average leaders.

“Of course -- I mean, I go out there and I try to be able to go deep into the game,” Eovaldi said. “To me, pitching wins championships, and we have a great pitching staff right now, and we have that ability to go out there and get hot and let somebody be the hero tonight.”

As it turns out, as tough as he was Friday night, Eovaldi wasn’t the hero the Rangers ultimately needed. Instead -- after the bullpen coughed up the lead the starter handed them -- the Rangers needed their often stagnant offense to save the day. In the ninth, the trio of Wyatt Langford, Corey Seager and Joc Pederson were up to the task.

The furious ninth-inning rally that happened so quickly that Langford, its catalyst, joked that he was still catching his breath by the time he was chowing down on the postgame meal in the clubhouse.

Langford led off the ninth after hitting a solo homer in his previous at-bat in the sixth. He fell behind Guardians closer Cade Smith 0-2, but laid off two balls and hit a hard line drive past shortstop that skipped into left-center field on the fifth pitch. Langford never hesitated rounding first base and stretched the hit into a double, barely beating the throw to second. He sprang to his feet on the bag, turned to the Rangers’ dugout and pumped his fist.

Soon after, it was over. Seager and Pederson each jumped on the first pitch they saw; Seager singled on a liner to center, scoring Langford, and Pederson ripped a double just short of the warning track in right-center, plating Seager.

In the span of three pitches, the Rangers went from staring down another dispiriting loss to celebrating.

“It's right up there at the top [of wins this season],” Bochy said. “Coming off a tough road trip. To [lose the] lead there in the eighth and come back and take the lead. Yeah, no doubt, that's one of our best ones -- much needed, obviously. And I just love the fight, I love the fight in the guys. To give the lead up and come back -- three great at-bats. Langford, what a great job, base hit and he busted his tail out of the box to get a double. The next two guys did their thing. Terrific win for us.”