Texas right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has sufficiently recovered from his recent illness in time to make the start on Sunday when the visiting Rangers meet the Atlanta Braves in the rubber game of the series between two division-leading teams.
Atlanta, the first-place team in the National League East, won the series opener 15-1 on Friday, and Texas, the leader in the American League West, took the second game 7-6.
Eovaldi (9-7, 4.04 ERA) has been dealing with an unspecified illness he picked up over the All-Star break and was cleared to make his first appearance in 10 days. He will face Atlanta right-hander Grant Holmes (5-4, 3.61) in the series finale.
Eovaldi will be making his 19th start and has won four straight decisions. In his last start against the Los Angeles Angels on July 9, he pitched six innings and allowed four runs (three earned) with a season-high 10 strikeouts but did not figure into the decision. He has fanned at least nine in his last four starts.
He has made 18 career appearances (all starts) against Atlanta, going 4-4 with a 2.86 ERA. He beat the Braves last year after throwing five scoreless innings.
Holmes is coming off a productive start against Pittsburgh on July 8 when he threw five scoreless innings. Over his last three appearances (two starts), Holmes has allowed two runs (one earned) in 14 innings.
But the Braves have been frustrated by Holmes’ inability to pitch past the fifth inning. In seven starts since May 29, he has failed to make it past the fifth inning four times. He has made quality starts in only five of his 17 outings.
Holmes made his only career appearance against the Rangers last year when he received no decision after allowing four runs in four innings.
“We need to take a step forward with our starting pitching,” Atlanta manager Walt Weiss said. “They’ve been good this year, especially early on, so it’s certainly there. But we’ve got to put together some good starts.”
The Rangers shredded the Atlanta bullpen on Saturday, forcing the Braves to use eight pitchers, including setup man Dylan Lee and closer Raisel Iglesias.
“They had to use a lot of their bullpen pieces and we were able to score some runs against some really good pitchers out there,” Texas manager Skip Schumaker said. “Their lefties (Lee, Dylan Dodd and Danny Young) are not easy to face, and we took some really good at-bats. That was the challenge and I’m just happy our offense stepped up and got the win.”
The Rangers are close to getting shortstop Corey Seager and starting pitcher Jacob deGrom back. Seager has been on the injured list since July 1 with lower back inflammation. deGrom was scratched from his last start before the All-Star game with a mild left glute strain and threw a bullpen session on Saturday. A good report could mean deGrom would start on Monday when the Rangers open a three-game home series against the Chicago White Sox.
“It’s always the next day after they go through their routines and their progressions,” Schumaker said. “It’s always the how-you-feeling conversation and then we can progress with their next steps.”
–Field Level Media
