MacKenzie Gore’s four-inning start left Texas reaching for the bullpen early, and Nathan Eovaldi answered with three steady relief innings as the Rangers beat Boston 7-3 on Wednesday night at Globe Life Field.
Rangers lean on Eovaldi in 7-3 win over Red Sox
Texas used a three-run seventh inning to claim its first lead of the night, finish off a series victory and return to the .500 mark at 76-76. The win pulled the Rangers level with Houston in the American League West, although the Astros hold the tiebreaker. Texas remained one game behind the final American League Wild Card position.
The result
Boston jumped ahead in the opening inning when Willson Contreras hit a two-run homer off Gore. The left-hander’s outing became more troubling an inning later, when he appeared to grab at his back after delivering a 2-1 pitch to Caleb Durbin.
Manager Skip Schumaker, pitching coach Jordan Tiegs and trainer Matt Lucero visited Gore on the mound. Gore stayed in the game and worked into the fifth, but his stuff and command did not look like their usual selves. He threw 69 pitches, with 36 strikes, before Texas turned to its relief options.
That brought Eovaldi into a game that carried late-September weight. The veteran right-hander has been rebuilding after an elbow injury cost him five weeks, and Wednesday marked his second bullpen appearance since he returned from the injured list on Sept. 12.
With 26,364 in the building, Gary Clark Jr.’s version of “Come Together” rolled through Globe Life Field during the sixth inning as Eovaldi took the mound. It was an unusual moment for the right-hander’s warm-up music to play in the middle of a game, but these have not been ordinary days for a club trying to stay in the postseason chase.
Eovaldi has been a stabilizing piece of the Rangers’ rotation since arriving in 2023. On this night, he filled a different job, covering three innings and keeping the game within reach until the Texas offense broke through in the seventh.
Schumaker had said the Rangers would use every available arm during the season’s closing 12-game stretch. Eovaldi’s appearance made that point clear: a co-ace working out of the bullpen, not because it was routine, but because Texas needed outs.
The Rangers got those outs, then got the late runs. For one night, the standings tightened and Eovaldi’s return took another meaningful step forward.
SEO Title: Rangers rally past Red Sox 7-3 as Nathan Eovaldi delivers key relief innings
Meta Description: Nathan Eovaldi worked three relief innings after MacKenzie Gore exited early, and the Rangers used a three-run seventh to beat the Red Sox 7-3 in Arlington.
