Eovaldi, Pearce have happy homecomings
Alvin native, ex-Astro enjoy big moments for Boston in Game 3
Leave it to an area local and a ghost of Astros past to flout the home-field advantage at Minute Maid Park.
Nathan Eovaldi’s six strong innings and Steve Pearce’s goahead home run pushed the Red Sox to an 8-2 win over the Astros on Tuesday night, thrusting Boston to a 2-1 lead in the American League Championship Series.
Eovaldi, 28, grew up in Alvin as the town’s hardest hurler this side of Nolan Ryan and competed in a high school tournament at Minute Maid. Pearce, 35, is only slightly more familiar with the ballpark confines from his 21 forgettable games with the Astros in 2012.
Last winter, any team could have signed them. In the spring, the Tampa Bay Rays helped the injury-plagued Eovaldi make a comeback, and the Toronto Blue Jays let Pearce keep his career alive. By the summer, the Red Sox scooped them up at little cost before the trade deadline.
In October, they have made their greatest impacts.
“There’s trades that get all the headlines, and there’s others that people don’t talk about,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.
He called Pearce “outstanding” for his seven homers, 26 RBIs and .901 OPS in 165 plate appearances as a righthanded platoon with lefthanded-hitting Mitch Moreland at first base. Eovaldi posted a 3.33 ERA in 11 starts and finished with careerbest strikeout and walk rates.
“Nate, everybody knew about the stuff,” Cora said of Eovaldi, who has thrown more 100-plus mph pitches than every starter but the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard since 2015. “That was a name that I kept hearing and hearing. I was, like, ‘Please, God, come on, let’s do it.’ And he’s been great.”
Eovaldi ceded six hits and two walks in six innings Tuesday but kept the Astros to two runs.
He came out firing harder than he had in any of his 23 starts this season. His first five pitches ranged from 99 to 101 mph, his maximum velocity, but the Astros made his first inning a grind. Houston cut Boston’s lead to 2-1, exhausted Eovaldi of 26 pitches, and forced the righthander to reveal his full arsenal.
“They were aggressive,” Eovaldi said. “My off-speed pitches were able to come through for me.”
Eovaldi returned to the mound with a shrewd game plan. Having established his blazing fastball, he used it less in each successive inning.
He had planted it so firmly in the front of the Astros’ minds that he could take advantage of their high-velocity anxiety. He did not reach for it at all in the fourth. He did not need it to strike out Carlos Correa or to induce an additional six swinging and 13 called strikes.
He skipped and zipped cutters off barrels. He fluttered splitters and spun curveballs out of bats’ reach.
For all of his deception and command, Eovaldi could control only what he touched. He needed his fielders to compensate for his mistakes, but with two outs in the fifth, third baseman Rafael Devers could not backhand a hard chopper from Alex Bregman. The ball bounced toward the left-field corner, taking long enough for Jose Altuve, a bit hobbled by his sore knee, to score the tying run on the double.
He later said he was less upset about letting Bregman reach base than bungling an 0-2 count to Altuve, who worked a two-out walk.
“That’s baseball karma,” Eovaldi said.
He seemed headed for a nodecision until sidearmer Joe Smith came on in the sixth and flung a fastball inside and off the plate. Pearce ripped it 456 feet to left field.
“It felt great; I’m not going to lie,” Pearce said.
Earlier, Pearce had made Boston’s most critical defensive play, stretching out for a throw to rob Yuli Gurriel of an infield hit that would have loaded the bases in the third. Pearce also had missed homering on a meaty pitch he sent to the leftfield wall but Tony Kemp snared with a leaping catch.
“Thankfully, I didn’t miss the second one,” Pearce said.
His home run snuck inside the foul pole and crashed against a wall beneath the train tracks, derailing an Astros team that had not trailed in a playoff series since after Game 1 of the 2017 World Series.
Houston would not score again, rendering Jackie Bradley Jr.’s grand slam gratuitous.
Eovaldi earned the win in his playoff debut against the Yankees in the Division Series and followed with another against the defending champions. He called it “special” to raise his comeback season to such a height in front of a dozen family and friends in the crowd, while around 100 text messages flooded his phone and other Alvin locals rooted for the Red Sox.
But Eovaldi would not let any sentimental thought soften his competitive edge.
“Maybe when the season’s finally over, I’ll be able to think about it,” Eovaldi said. “I’ll be ready in two days if they need me out of the bullpen.”