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Nathan Eovaldi solving Rangers’ biggest problems with best streak of his career

With a troublesome bullpen and without its ace, Eovaldi is giving Texas everything it needs.

PITTSBURGH – Nathan Eovaldi has the answers.

Lose your ace for the foreseeable future? Ask Nate to solve it.

Run out of things to say about a troublesome bullpen? Hey, ask Nate.

Whatever issues the Rangers have run into pitching-wise this season, Eovaldi has found a way to offer at least temporary respite. On Tuesday, a night after another bullpen meltdown, Eovaldi mowed through Pittsburgh with an unpredictable pitch mix for a 6-1 complete-game win. It was his second complete game win in the last month; he’d had two complete games in his 11-year career entering the season.

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You might even say he’s provided more relief than the still-in-development bullpen. Just ask manager Bruce Bochy, who could savor a post-game Yuengling without having to answer what if’s and what maybe’s about his relievers.

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“He sends a sense of confidence throughout the club when he’s out there,” Bochy said. “There is a presence and an energy he brings; he plays with a lot of fire.”

The offense was fairly equally divided between two-strike-tough Josh Jung and run-scoring balks. Jung lined a two-run single to break the game open in the sixth and a score-capping homer in the eighth, both on 0-2 pitches, to account for three of the Rangers’ runs. Two others scored on balks, only the second time in franchise history the Rangers had multiple run-scoring balks in a game.

It would be easy to say a lot more about the offense. But it was the 24th time – exactly half of their season to date – in which the Rangers have scored at least six runs. If they aren’t scoring bunches of run every night, it’s every other night.

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What Eovaldi has done, though, has helped lift both ends of the Rangers’ pitching staff. For going on a month now, he’s led the way for the rotation in the absence of Jacob deGrom. He started the night after deGrom left a game against the New York Yankees with elbow inflammation and proceeded to craft a three-hit shutout. And he has not let up. Tuesday marked the fifth consecutive start in which he’s gone at least seven innings. The only Ranger to do that in the last seven years: Lance Lynn in 2019.

In this stretch, Eovaldi has allowed just four runs in 41 innings, walking six and striking out 35. He’s averaged just 12.9 pitches per inning – allowing Bochy to give him lots of runway and to pick and choose his relief choices. Eovaldi needed just 104 pitches to finish off Tuesday’s win.

“The efficiency is the key,” Bochy said. “They have been low-stress innings. He’s made pretty easy work of guys. He’s just been in such a groove.”

The best groove of his career, Eovaldi acknowledged on Tuesday.

“I feel like I’m really locked in,” he said about what separates this stretch from any others in his career. “We are really staying on top of the mechanics.”

When the Rangers signed Eovaldi in December, coming to an agreement on Christmas Eve, he was considered more of an insurance policy than a gift. The Rangers seemingly had a rotation already constructed – remember Jake Odorizzi, anybody? - and were eyeing left field. They missed out on Michael Conforto and turned towards further fortifying a rotation that had some injury history.

They understood he was a talented pitcher and good teammate, a central plank in GM Chris Young’s manifesto for a championship organization. They could not, however, have envisioned how well some pieces have come together.

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Eovaldi is a five-pitch pitcher and has meshed well with catcher Jonah Heim, a maturing game-caller, to deploy his arsenal most effectively. On Tuesday, Eovaldi threw no one of his individual pitches more than 32 times. He used his splitter for big inning-ending outs in the third and fourth and got a big double-play on a four-seam fastball in the fifth.

Eovaldi has also jived with pitching coach Mike Maddux, who like him, is a pitching strategy junkie. Eovaldi watches all his teammates’ bullpen sessions. Maddux is a game-planning savant, pouring over video for strategy and sequencing. Maddux has been so enamored of Eovaldi, he’s asked the pitcher to occasionally give his input on others. They’ve made a good team.

“I’ve never had a guy who has been that good at scouting reports,” Eovaldi said.

And one more thing: Good enough is not good enough for Eovaldi. Consider his last start: He went seven innings against Atlanta’s tough lineup and left with a lead. But he walked two hitters with two outs in the seventh, forcing the bullpen to face the top of the lineup in the eighth, which may have contributed to the Rangers’ blowing a lead.

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It did not sit well with him. After the game, he took responsibility for putting the bullpen in a “bad spot.”

“I don’t feel like anyone is harder on me than I am,” Eovaldi said. “I try to control things I can control. I hated those two-out walks. I tend to be a perfectionist.”

If not perfect for the last month, he’s been about as close as a starter can get. In short, he’s had just about every answer.

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