ARLINGTON -- Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi was scratched from his series-opening start against the Diamondbacks with left side tightness on Monday.
Manager Skip Schumaker said Eovaldi woke up feeling discomfort in his side and went to get scans before coming to the ballpark. The Rangers are still awaiting the results of those scans.
“It didn't feel real smart sending him out there today,” Schumaker said. “You never want to hear [that] from anybody. So we'll find out what we know when the imaging comes. I don't want to guess what it is.”
Schumaker said the game would be a true bullpen day with everybody available. The Rangers only used one reliever on Sunday, when Jacob Latz completed a two-inning save in the win.
The Rangers' bullpen threw 6 1/3 scoreless innings over the final two games against the Cubs this weekend, combining with starters Jack Leiter and Jacob deGrom for a pair of shutouts in the series win. The unit has a 2.80 ERA so far this season, the best in MLB. Opponents are hitting .220/.305/.333, which is the lowest in the American League for all three slash categories.
“Whatever has been thrown at us we've rolled with the punches and dealt with it and got the job done in all types of circumstances,” right-hander Jakob Junis said of the bullpen group. “From the first series of the year, Latz threw four innings, and now he's closing games. We've been all over the place and had a lot of different obstacles as a group. We're a group that's going to pick each other up and when our names are called, we're going to go out there and give it our best.”
They did exactly that on Monday.
The bullpen was phenomenal in the 1-0 loss to the D-backs, as Junis (2 2/3 IP), Jalen Beeks (1 IP), Peyton Gray (2 2/3 IP), Cole Winn (1 IP) and Tyler Alexander (1 1/3 IP) combined to keep the game within reach.
The offense ultimately came up short, but the pitching certainly did its job.
“You can't ask for anything more than what they did for us,” Schumaker said. “We put that on them at 3:30 or 4 and to go nine innings, all of them were just outstanding. And we have guys for tomorrow as well. So that shows a lot. We didn't even have a bulk guy to cover four or five innings. For them to do that just shows you how good the game planning was, how good the execution was. We had some good defense behind them as well. It was a good day on the pitching side and defense. Just couldn't get anything going on the offensive end.”
Though they don’t anticipate needing a replacement for Eovaldi at this time, the Rangers aren’t exactly flush with options if a stint on the injured list is required.
Corniell, who made his MLB debut on the final day of the 2025 season, missed most of Spring Training with a shoulder injury and only just began a rehab assignment in Arizona. The 22-year-old missed all of '24 and much of '25 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
Santos has allowed 18 runs in 13 2/3 innings at Double-A Frisco, but also opened the season on the injured list with a left hand fracture. He took a comebacker off the bat of Kyle Higashioka in live BP during big league camp.
Davalillo is the only fully healthy option at the moment and has posted a 3.86 ERA in his first five starts at Frisco this season. He hasn’t pitched above Double-A yet.
It stands to reason that veteran Cal Quantrill, who has been pitching out of the bullpen this season, could slot into the rotation if necessary. The 31-year-old right-hander has 149 career starts across his previous seven big league seasons.