HOUSTON -- The home run lights began to flicker at Daikin Park as Yordan Alvarez started to round the bases in the fourth inning after connecting with a hanging curveball out of the hand of Nathan Eovaldi.
But Rangers outfielder Brandon Nimmo leapt at the wall, as fans in the first row of the section cowered away. Nimmo reached over the wall to bring back the would-be home run from Alvarez as the lights turned back on, keeping the Rangers and Astros in a scoreless tie early in Sunday’s finale.
One of those same fans that did his best to avoid Nimmo as he reached into the crowd was rewarded with a ball later in the game when Nimmo came out for warmups. A kind of thank you for not getting in the way, while also making up for the fact that Nimmo had swiped a would-be souvenir.
“We talked about momentum-changing plays,” said manager Skip Schumaker. “If Alvarez hits a home run, that is a difference-making play on their side. The fact that he brought it back was momentum on our side, which hasn't happened this series a lot. That was obviously a big play.”
The catch would preserve Eovaldi’s stellar outing, while setting up the Rangers’ offense for its only big offensive day of the series.
Eovaldi’s seven scoreless innings, along with a Jake Burger two-run homer and a five-run fifth would create a perfect storm for the Rangers to avoid a sweep with an 8-0 win over the Astros.
Eovaldi has now halted multi-game losing streaks in each of his last three starts.
Eovaldi was scratched from his last scheduled outing on May 11 against the Diamondbacks due to left side tightness, which ultimately did not require an injured list stint. He didn’t skip a beat getting back on the mound, striking out eight Astros en route to a win.
“I felt good,” Eovaldi said about his minor injury. “I thought I had a good game plan coming in. The curveball was good, the splitter was really good today, and then the sinker as well. It was just trying to attack the zone, not fall behind a lot of guys. Nimmo had some great play out there in right field, and then we were able to score. I tried to stay on the attack from there.”
Eovaldi had 19 whiffs, 13 of which came on the splitter. His diverse pitch mix consistently kept the Astros off balance. Houston only got one runner into scoring position all day.
"He had the split-finger going,” said Astros manager Joe Espada. “He threw it over and over again and the execution on it was good. It looked like a fastball, and was right below our barrels. Just a good outing by Nate and we've got to tip our hat to him."
After posting a 5.79 ERA across his first six starts this season, Eovaldi has now allowed just one run over his last three starts (22 IP), lowering his season ERA to 3.64.
Eovaldi said a big part of righting the ship for him has been getting the fastball down in the zone and the ability to mix in the curveball more often as well. He threw 18 curveballs on Sunday, good for 19% of his arsenal on the day.
“I think it’s just a more balanced mix of pitches working for him than in the beginning of the season,” catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “I think he was struggling with trying to find more than just a splitter. It got a little predictable for some teams. These last several outings, he's had a lot more weapons to work with and that just allows him to mix and match.
“If you don't have more than one pitch working for you, then hitters are going to eliminate everything else. As long as you have a bunch of things working for you -- or at least more than one -- it's easier to keep people off balance.”