The Texas Rangers scored six runs while the New York Yankees scored one run.
After much consternation over the last few days (weeks? months? years?) about the offense, the Rangers had a few ingredients going for them tonight that left us with a better taste in our mouths.
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For one, they had Nathan Eovaldi on the mound and he seems to have New York’s number. Sporting a 1.59 ERA over seven starts against the Yankees during his tenure with Texas, Eovaldi was practically as masterful as his win over New York from April when he went seven shutout innings.
Tonight, with the mood waning as the road trip trudges on, Eovaldi provided a pep in Texas’ step as he went eight innings of one-run ball on three hits with zero walks and eight strikeouts. The only blemish on his evening came when Aaron Judge won a sixth inning battle and swatted a solo home run. That’ll happen to anyone.
When that did happen, the Rangers were already up 6-0. Thanks to home runs from Corey Seager and Evan Carter, and with Brandon Nimmo and Ezequiel Duran doing work at the top of the lineup, the Rangers scored all six of their runs off New York starter Will Warren before the end of the fourth to muddy Warren’s previously sparkling 2.39 ERA coming into tonight’s game.
After surprisingly becoming something of the poster child for the club’s early season woes at the plate in what is surely one of the longest slumps in his career, Seager led off the scoring with a solo home run in the first. Carter followed with a two-run home run that capped off a three-run third inning. Four runs was plenty for Eovaldi and Texas still added a couple more in the fourth when they finally capitalized on a bases-loaded situation.
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As an aside, this was the sort of game that ABS was made for. Tonight’s home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott has often been an ump tracking era darling. In fact, he was the top home plate ump during the 2023 season (despite missing ten calls against Texas during Game 2 of the 2023 World Series, the only game in the series that the Rangers lost) and is considered one of the better balls and strikes callers.
Tonight was not Quinn’s night however and both teams knew it. With Wolcott in desperate need of a recalibration, the teams made use of baseball’s shiny new toy to help prevent the game from going sideways. The Rangers and Yankees combined to contest nine of Quinn’s calls with Texas going 5-for-7 before running out of challenges in the eighth.
I shudder to recall the before times. Both 24 hours before when the Rangers couldn’t score runs and before when a bad night from the guy behind the plate could ruin a baseball game.
Player of the Game: Eovaldi is obvious and Seager, Carter, and Nimmo deserve notice but I’ll also highlight former Yankees prospect Duran for doubling in the game’s second run, hitting a sac fly, scoring a run, drawing a walk, and stealing a base from the 2-hole.
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Subbing in for the injured Josh Smith, Duran has been one of the more productive bats in recent days and has seen his OPS rise to .833 on the year, the best non-Josh Jung mark that the Rangers have in the first week of the season’s second month.
Up Next: It’ll be breakfast with the Rangers for tomorrow’s series and road trip finale from the Bronx as LHP MacKenzie Gore is set to take the mound for Texas in the rubber match against RHP Ryan Weathers for New York.
The Thursday morning first pitch from Yankee Stadium is scheduled for 11:35 am CDT and you can find it on the Rangers Sports Network.
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