ARLINGTON -- Nathan Eovaldi allowed a home run to Nick Kurtz on the first pitch of Friday night’s matchup between the Rangers and the A’s.
Eovaldi also allowed a home run to Carlos Cortes on the sixth pitch of the evening.
And again, Eovaldi allowed yet another home run to Tyler Soderstrom on the seventh pitch.
“They came out pretty aggressive,” Rangers catcher Kyle Higashioka said, matter-of-factly.
For a stretch, Eovaldi looked like himself. He retired 11 straight batters between Jeff McNeil's two-out single in the first inning and Zack Gelof's single in the fifth. Even in his final frame, he used just nine pitches to get a lineout, a groundout and a flyout to complete his outing.
But one final homer in the fifth inning, this time a three-run shot from Cortes, eventually sank the evening, as the Rangers fell, 8-1, to the A’s to open the three-game set.
The four homers were the most Eovaldi has allowed in his Rangers career and tied for the second most in his MLB career (five on May 17, 2022 at the Astros).
“It’s frustrating,” Eovaldi said.
“The way that they were getting their runs, it's deflating for us. Obviously that's on me. I felt like I was able to settle down. I’ve got to go out there and make better pitches. I gotta do a better job of working in the bottom of the zone. When I'm down in the bottom of the zone, I have the results, but a lot of the time right now I've just been middle-middle, middle-away, middle-in. That's where a lot of the damage has been done.”
Eovaldi had his best start of the season just last week in West Sacramento, when he twirled seven shutout innings against these very same A’s.
On Friday, they came out swinging fast and loose, targeting the pitches that worked so well for Eovaldi in his last start and hammering them all over the stands at Globe Life Field.
“I think the first time [I faced them], I felt like I was making better quality pitches,” Eovaldi said. “Today, I didn't like a lot of the shapes of my pitches that I was throwing. I did like my curveball today. I thought that that's been better. Other than that, I just have to be better.”
Eovaldi said he’s felt better mechanically over the past few starts, but the pitch shapes just still aren’t where he wants them to be, leading to all the inconsistencies.
“It’s a little uncharacteristic -- the majority of my pitches aren't where I want them to be,” he said. “Usually, I've got two going, and I can rely on those two and wiggle the other ones in there. Lately they've all been not very good. I think once I get the fastball going, everything works off it. So once I have that pitch working, I feel like I can rip it down at the bottom of the zone, all my other shapes will come along.”
Speaking of his fastball, Eovaldi has a -7 fastball run value in 2026, compared to +17 in 2025. Opposing hitters are slugging 1.000 against his four-seamer in 2026, compared to .457 in 2025.
Of the nine homers he’s surrendered this year, four have come on the four-seamer, three have come on the cutter, one on the splitter and one on the curveball.
It’s clear that it all comes back to that.
“I feel like every time I throw the fastball, it gets hit,” Eovaldi said. “I feel like I just have to do a better job of getting it down in the zone. I think that if I pitch down in the zone, it sets up my splitter a lot better. I can use my cutter up in the zone a lot better. It’s just the tunneling aspects. And right now, I just haven't been utilizing my fastball as well as I know that I can.”
Eovaldi was one of the best pitchers in baseball in 2025, posting a 1.73 ERA in 22 starts with 129 K's over 130 innings before his season ended prematurely with a rotator cuff strain in late August.
Eovaldi allowed just 10 home runs in 130 innings in 2025. After Friday, he’s now allowed an American League-high nine home runs in 32 2/3 innings this season. His 5.79 ERA is the second-worst among qualified AL starters at the conclusion of the game.
The Rangers are hopeful that the best version of him can return soon.
“I know I've said it before, but I'm not worried about him,” manager Skip Schumaker said. “It is true, and I’ll say it again. I'm not worried about him, just because of how hard he works and how much he gameplans, it's going to turn for him. He’s just had a little bit of a slow start, but he's had a really good outing mixed in there as well.”
“We've kind of been grinding through the past couple outings,” Higashioka added. “I’ve got no doubts that he's gonna turn the corner and he'll be good. He’ll figure it out.”