Fastball

Nathan Eovaldi Makes Texas Rangers History with Complete Game Shutout vs. Cincinnati Reds

The Rangers moved out to 4-2 on the season thanks to a dominant pitching performance from the former All-Star.

Brady Farkas

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the third inning at Great American Ball Park in 2025.
Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) pitches against the Cincinnati Reds in the third inning at Great American Ball Park in 2025. / Katie Stratman-Imagn Images
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The Texas Rangers beat the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night at Great American Ball Park. With the shutout victory, the Rangers moved to 4-2 on the young season while the Reds dropped 2-3.

The Rangers' lone run came in the top of the first inning courtesy of a Wyatt Langford home run and Nathan Eovaldi did the rest on the mound. He tossed a complete game shutout, giving up just four hits. He walked none and struck out nine. Usually, pitch counts are a real issue early in the season, but Eovaldi threw only 99 pitches, with 70 of them going for strikes.

He also made some team history of the last decade, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

Nathan Eovaldi!

The Rangers’ first Maddux (SHO on fewer than 100 pitches) since Colby Lewis on 9/11/15

A "Maddux" refers to a complete game shutout on fewer than 100 pitches. Through two starts, Eovaldi is now 1-0 with a 1.20 ERA. He's got 17 strikeouts in 15 innings. A 14-season veteran, Eovaldi has played with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers.

He helped the Red Sox win the World Series in 2018 and helped pace the Rangers to the 2023 title.

The two teams will finish out their series on Wednesday afternoon with first pitch coming at 12:40 p.m. ET. Top prospect Jack Leiter will take the mound for Texas while Hunter Greene toes the rubber for the Reds.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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