Eovaldi earns spot on big stage
What more does Nathan Eovaldi have to do? What more can he do? With another overpowering start last night, when he held the Houston Astros to two runs in six innings to lead the Red Sox to an 8-2 win in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series, Eovaldi became the first pitcher to post back-to-back quality starts this postseason.
Only seven pitchers have thrown one.
“Stuff-wise, he’s one of the best left in October,” manager Alex Cora said.
With the win, the Red Sox took a 2-1 lead and guaranteed at least a chance to bring the series back to Fenway Park for a potential Game 6.
The only crime is Eovaldi won’t be able to pitch again on normal rest until a potential Game 7.
That’s the penalty the Red Sox pay for choosing David Price as their Game 2 starter for the second straight series and pushing Eovaldi to Game 3. A pitcher this talented deserves better. He’s earned it.
When the Red Sox were searching for trade options before the July 31 non-waiver deadline, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski had to stop himself from pursuing at least one player who the Red Sox felt would not handle the pressure nor the postseason stage, Dombrowski said last night.
Having a reputation as a big-game pitcher was important in the Sox’ search.
They wanted someone like Eovaldi, who has a reputation for being a calming influence with a mature personality, and they landed him in a trade with the Rays for lefty Jalen Beeks.
“Anybody I talked to said that he was not only a quality pitcher, but he could handle big situations,” Dombrowski said. “A lot of our people knew him, it just so happened, and we also did some homework behind the scenes. But everybody said he could handle big situations, pitching in Boston and anything else that came along with it. You can see he’s comfortable on the mound and doing a fine job.”
Cora also had a leg up in the search, since his brother, Joey, coached Eovaldi when he was with the Marlins in 2012.
“Everything I heard from him playing with the Marlins when Joey was there, to (Rays pitching coach) Kyle Snyder and (Rays manager Kevin Cash) was that he was a great individual,” Cora said.
Eovaldi has proven twice now that no stage is too big for him, as he’s silenced sellout crowds in two of the most hostile postseason environments in baseball, Yankee Stadium and Minute Maid Park.
The noise was deafening when the ’Stros scored in the bottom of the first inning. The Sox had scored two in the top of the inning, giving them a cushion to work with, but the Houston fans flexed their vocal cords as soon as they plated their first run.
Eovaldi tuned it right out and quieted the place with a 1-2-3 frame in the second.
The only other run he allowed was on a sharp grounder to third base that evaded the poorly timed stab by Rafael Devers and turned into an RBI double for Alex Bregman in the fifth, tying the game 2-2.
Eovaldi called that moment “frustrating.”
But after Steve Pearce put the Sox ahead 3-2 in the sixth, Eovaldi came out flinging heat again to shut down the Astros in his final inning of work. He touched 101 mph in the sixth and threw a pitch at 101.4 mph earlier in the night, his hardest-thrown pitch of the season. He averaged over 99 mph on the night.
“I’ve definitely been throwing the ball really well,” he said. “Like tonight, I said I felt like my fastball and my cutter weren’t as effective, especially as they were against New York. But my other offspeed pitches were able to come through for me. I was able to rely on them a little more, my slider and my curveball and my split tonight.”
The 28-year-old finished with 92 pitches, 60 for strikes, and never allowed the Astros to get any offensive momentum.
In two postseason starts, Eovaldi has allowed just three runs in 13 innings.
If the Sox find a way to advance through the reigning champs and reach the World Series, there should be no doubt who starts Game 2 next time around.
Eovaldi overpowers opponents with triple-digit fastballs he can spray around the zone, spinning them left and right with cutters and two-seamers, and adding sharp breaking balls that often render the hitter motionless.
“His stuff is electric,” said Andrew Benintendi.
There’s an argument that Eovaldi is the perfect Game 3 starter, since he’s proven so good at silencing the opponents’ ballpark.
The counterargument is a Game 3 starter may only pitch once in a seven-game series. Eovaldi’s proven too good to be kept on the shelf for the first two games.