ARLINGTON -- Gary Clark Jr.’s cover of The Beatles' song “Come Together” echoed over the speakers at Globe Life Field in the sixth inning on Wednesday night as the crowd of 26,364 fans rose with anticipation.
Nathan Eovaldi’s warm-up song isn’t typically played mid-game. That’s obvious for the Rangers’ co-ace, who has been the anchor of the rotation since joining the club in 2023.
But as Eovaldi continues to work back from an elbow injury that kept him sidelined for five weeks, and a postseason push at hand, he’s now made two relief appearances since his activation on Sept. 12.
When Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said it was all hands on deck for this final 12-game stretch of the season, he wasn’t kidding. That meant using Eovaldi for three innings to keep Texas neck and neck with the Red Sox on Wednesday night.
The Rangers finally took their first lead of the evening with a three-run seventh, propelling the club to a 7-3 win over the Red Sox to secure a series victory and get back to .500 (76-76).
The win also allowed the Rangers to pull even with the Astros in the American League West, though Houston owns that tiebreaker. Texas still sits one game back of the third and final AL Wild Card spot.
Eovaldi was forced into action, yes, because of the stakes, but also in part because starter MacKenzie Gore went just four innings as he seemingly battled an ailment throughout his abbreviated outing.
Gore allowed a two-run homer to Willson Contreras in the first inning to immediately put the Rangers behind the eight-ball. Things went from bad to worse when Gore grabbed at his back after a 2-1 pitch to Caleb Durbin in the second.
There was a brief mound visit between Gore, Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs and head trainer Matt Lucero. Gore remained in the game and pitched into the fifth, but his velocity remained significantly down across the board, as did his command. He threw 69 pitches and just 36 for strikes.