Frustrated Nathan Eovaldi Rocked by Jose Altuve, Astros in Texas Rangers Return

Nathan Eovaldi returned to the Texas Rangers rotation from the injured list and lasted only 1 1/3 innings against the Houston Astros.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Nathan Eovaldi felt he was ready Tuesday night for his long-anticipated return.

Turns out the Houston Astros were more than ready for the Texas Rangers ace.

Eovaldi couldn’t make it out of the second inning, as the Astros, specifically Jose Altuve, battered the right-hander in the second game of the critical series between the Silver Boot rivals. Houston rolled to a 14-1 blowout win at Glove Life Field, with Eovaldi allowing four runs in a season-low 1 1/3 innings.

Altuve enjoyed a career night with three homers in three innings – two against Eovaldi, who didn’t see such a personal performance coming.

“It felt great being back out there, physically I feel great,” said Eovaldi, who dropped to 11-4. “The results were just not what I wanted. I felt like I fell behind a lot of the guys, and I just wasn’t executing my secondary pitches the way I normally do and left a lot of those up in the zone. For the most part they were out of reach for most of the guys, obviously other than Altuve – both his home runs off of me.”

Eovaldi hadn’t pitch since July 18 – his only start post-All-Star break. He spent more than a month on the injured list with a forearm strain before being activated for the middle game of the Astros series without a rehab start. Eovaldi came into his start working on a limited pitch count.

Nathan Eovaldi shares his thoughts on his first start back from the I.L.
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Asked why he was activated without making an outing in the minors, Eovaldi said management made the call.

“I’m not really sure,” he said. “They just asked if I was able to pitch and I said, ‘Yeah, of course.’ I feel like I can get big league hitters out.”

That’s been an issue for the Rangers throughout a 4-14 slump that’s knocked Texas out of the lead in the American League West and looking up in the Wild Card race, as well. Houston (79-61) leads the division, followed by the Seattle Mariners (77-61).

The Rangers (76-62) are third in the AL West and trail the Toronto Blue Jays (77-62) for the third Wild Card spot. The Astros have outscored Texas 27-7 in the first two games.

In what was supposed to be a showdown series, the Rangers have been thoroughly dominated by Houston.

“Extremely frustrating,” Eovaldi said. “They’re one of the biggest teams in our division. Seattle’s been playing great. They’ve been playing great. We feel like we haven’t been performing up to our standard and for them to come in here these past few nights and to beat us the way that they have, it’s frustrating for us.”

The season series with the Astros ends with the first-ever Max Scherzer-Justin Verlander matchup Wednesday night. First pitch is 7:05 p.m.

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