Eovaldi is lights-out in opener
Command is there in six innings
Here’s the scariest thing about the Red Sox’ trashing of the Orioles on Friday night: Nathan Eovaldi’s first Opening Day start was a gem.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the Sox’ offense dominated in a 13-2 win against an Orioles team that started left-hander Tommy Milone, a modern day and less effective Jamie Moyer whose looping breaking balls were mostly smoked to the corners of the Fenway Park outfield.
Forget about all that. We knew the Red Sox could hit against bad pitching. They’ve been doing that for a month during intrasquad games.
We didn’t know how Nathan Eovaldi would look when the lights turned on, the opponents entered the park and the game counted, because when the game counts, Eovaldi only has one level of intensity.
Sometimes, his intensity causes him lose control. That could’ve happened on Friday night. No, there were no fans to distract him (not that they ever did; he’s thrown his best games in hostile environments). And the Orioles sent a lineup to the plate that included Jose Iglesias, the former light-hitting Red Sox shortstop, in the three-hole.
But Eovaldi still could’ve gotten lost up there. His enemy is usually himself anyways. He’s throwing 100 mph with five different pitches, including a nasty splitter and a breaking ball with a banana-shaped bend into the dirt. Not many guys can handle him.
It’s Eovaldi’s command that is the only problem. When he came back from the loose body removal surgery mid-season last year and returned out of the bullpen, he didn’t have that command. He was throwing fastballs right down Broadway. And his splitter wasn’t the groundball-generating weapon that it was on Friday.
That Eovaldi only walked one batter over six innings of one-run ball was a great sign. After all, it was a lineup that did not deserve a free pass. And to throw 67 strikes over 89 pitches was a lovely thing to see.
His command was there. He was effective with all of his pitches. And most importantly he walked off the mound healthy.
The fastball touched 100 mph, check.
The fastball averaged 97.5 mph, check.
The splitter averaged 88 mph, check.
The cutter averaged 91 mph, no check. That one is off. His cutter averaged 93.5 mph last year and every year before that. Why is his cutter velocity down but everything else on par?
One possible explanation is that Eovaldi has spent the last four months thinking about the pitch and decided to give it some separation with his fastball. It’s something David Price previously worked on and it generated positive results for him in Boston.
The last number to pay attention to for Eovaldi on Friday is the pitch count.
Why 89 pitches when the Red Sox were dominating from start to finish in this one?
A look around MLB on Friday and you’ll see a variety of pitch counts from the game’s top starters, but most in the range of 70 to 90. It seemed odd that manager Ron Roenicke let Eovaldi take the mound in the sixth inning, when the Sox were leading 10-0. Why risk Eovaldi’s health? Why not save bullets for the Mets, who will have Jacob deGrom matched up against Eovaldi next week. Note that deGrom only threw 72 pitches in five scoreless innings against the Braves on Opening Day.
Overall it was an encouraging effort from Eovaldi. He’s only going to get 12 starts this year. That he can pitch Game 1 that well after what was basically a 10month layoff between regular season games is a positive thing to focus on.
The playoff field is now set to 16 teams. All you gotta do is get in. If you go .500 this year, you got a great chance at playing October baseball.
Just get in.
Get in and maybe Eovaldi will still be healthy, the offense will still be scoring and the Red Sox will have a chance.
Game 1 was encouraging.