When the Texas Rangers signed Jacob deGrom to a long-term contract in the offseason, they expected him to be their ace for years to come.
He then got injured in the regular season and is unavailable at the moment, as the team makes its way through the postseason.
Then, they went out and acquired deGrom’s former teammate on the New York Mets, Max Scherzer, to fill that ace void again.
And again, the Rangers’ ace got injured in September and while he could be an option for the American League Championship Series, he wouldn’t be near 100 percent.
With their two star pitchers down, it was time for the rest of the rotation to show up, and that’s what Nate Eovaldi has been doing: showing up.
He certainly did on Tuesday, tossing seven innings of just one-run ball to seal the Rangers’ ticket to the ALCS and leaving the Baltimore Orioles behind in the process.
Nathan Eovaldi was SPECIAL tonight:
7 IP, 5 H, 7 K, 1 ER 👏 pic.twitter.com/j4LRNuJ1w8
— B/R Walk-Off (@BRWalkoff) October 11, 2023
Eovaldi had a very good regular season, with a 3.63 ERA in 144 innings after signing as a free agent in the offseason.
He is a certified postseason monster, though, and the Rangers are sure taking advantage.
In 56.2 career innings in October, he has a cool 2.70 ERA.
He came up huge in 2018, during the Boston Red Sox’s successful postseason run.
This year, he stymied the Tampa Bay Rays in the Wild Card round for 6.2 innings, in which he conceded a single run and struck out eight.
Now, he did the same with the potent Orioles lineup and took his team to its first ALCS since 2011.
In Eovaldi, Texas has a legitimate ace and a proven postseason performer.
What else can they ask for?
NEXT: Video Shows Rangers Celebrating A Dominant ALDS Sweep
