Eovaldi gets back on track as Rangers take series opener

WEST SACRAMENTO -- Whispers outside of the Rangers organization wondered when it was time to worry about Nathan Eovaldi. After all, he had allowed 11 runs over his first 8 2/3 innings in 2026.

When was the time to worry? The time definitely was not within the first 10 days of a season.

Eovaldi looked like himself -- the best version of himself -- on Monday night, when he dealt seven scoreless innings to open the series against the Athletics in West Sacramento. First baseman Jake Burger provided all the necessary run support with a pair of homers before the Texas offense broke it open late to carry the club to an 8-1 win over the A’s at Sutter Health Park.

At just 84 pitches, Eovaldi could have -- and likely would have -- gone back out for the eighth and potentially the ninth inning had the Rangers not sent nine batters to the plate in the top half of the frame. But Texas collected five hits and a walk in a four-run eighth to double its lead.

“We're never going to complain about scoring some runs,” Eovaldi said. “I was trying to stay focused and stay locked in. I was aware it was a long sit and I felt good the entire time out. I was just trying to make sure that [I was] ready to go out for the eighth or ninth, if that was needed. With the long sit, we decided that it was probably the safest bet for us to end the night that way.”

Eovaldi shouldered losses in those first two starts of the season, one on Opening Day in Philadelphia and the other in Baltimore. He picked up his first win of the season with a quality start last week against the Mariners at Globe Life Field, signaling that he was really close to putting it all back together.

“It’s just the execution of the pitches: the two strikes and the put-away pitches, the weak contact,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “We had a couple good defensive plays too. But I've said it before, I'm not worried about Evo. Like, that's the last guy I was worried about. We’re probably going to get more of these starts than the first two starts.”

He did it with relative ease against an A’s team that was rolling well after series wins over both New York teams in the past week. Eovaldi allowed just three hits, all singles, and didn’t allow a runner to reach third base.

Eovaldi is always looking to go deep into games, but within the midst of a 10-game, 10-day West Coast swing, it was even more important to keep the bullpen as fresh as possible. Jacob deGrom helped that cause by pitching six strong innings in Sunday’s win at Dodger Stadium.

“After that tough Dodger series of us using a lot of our bullpen, knowing it's going to be a lot of games in a row, for Jacob and Evo to go six innings and seven innings really helps our bullpen,” Schumaker said. “We needed those two starts, because you don't know what it's going to look like the next six games before the next off-day against some really good teams. So this was a big start.”

Ever the perfectionist, Eovaldi wasn’t pleased with every aspect of his outing. He still felt like he fell behind a few too many times, and while there weren’t many walks (two), some innings could have been quicker and cleaner.

“When we're scoring runs, I need to keep the pressure on them, keep attacking,” Eovaldi said. “You don't ever want to let the other guys get back into the game. I just need to be in attack mode the entire time.”

Whether he was pleased or not, this is the kind of start the Rangers have seen from Eovaldi for three-plus years now. They didn’t expect it to stop based on two starts to begin the season. And Eovaldi is honest, to say the least.

On Monday, he did his job and then some.

“I definitely feel a lot more in sync just knowing the shapes of my pitches, knowing what I have to go out there to do, knowing what I have to do mechanically,” Eovaldi said. “I feel a lot better and it showed tonight, just being able to be ahead of guys and attack and especially with an aggressive lineup. They're certainly going up there to do damage, and I don't ever have to really give in.”