Nathan Eovaldi silences the scorching Yankees for a second time in 8 days
NEW YORK (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi certainly has the New York Yankees' number — even if nobody else does lately. The veteran right-hander cooled off Aaron Judge & Co. for the second time in eight days Wednesday night, pitching eight masterful innings for the Texas Rangers in their 6-1 victory.
“That’s the tough part, right? We don’t really do this very often, where we have to face that same team back-to-back starts," Eovaldi said. "Fortunately for me the last time it was a good one.
I know I threw a lot of splitters and cutters. Today with the curveball being as effective as it was, it just allowed me to I guess rely on that pitch a little bit more, but also keep doing what was working before. ” Eovaldi threw 31 curveballs — his most in a game since 2019 with Boston, manager Skip Schumaker noted.
“The last two outings with Evo have been fantastic. I mean, today was exactly what we needed and hoped for against a really good lineup,” Schumaker said. “I thought there was a chance he'd go the distance, but I wasn't going to push him with a five-run lead.
” The 36-year-old Eovaldi, a two-time All-Star who pitched for the Yankees from 2015-16, struck out a season-best eight and walked none, firing 72 of his 101 pitches for strikes. He allowed just three hits after tossing seven innings of four-hit ball in a 3-0 win over New York on April 29 at home. "He was fooling ’em all night,” said catcher Kyle Higashioka, who spent 2017-23 with the Yankees.
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