Inside The Red Sox

Ex-Red Sox All-Star Tosses Complete Game Shutout Against Yankees

Boston can thank an old friend for shutting out the Yankees

Scott Neville

Ex-Red Sox All-Star Tosses Complete Game Shutout Against Yankees
Ex-Red Sox All-Star Tosses Complete Game Shutout Against Yankees /
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The New York Yankees are just one game ahead of the Boston Red Sox entering play Sunday, largely thanks to an old friend of the organization. 

All-Star right-hander Nathan Eovaldi was one of the biggest departures of the winter -- but he's still helping Boston climb the standings in his first season with the Texas Rangers. 

Eovaldi has some impressive starts against the Yankees but Friday's outing might take the cake. The 33-year-old tossed a three-hitter with eight strikeouts and zero walks across a complete-game shutout. 

The Yankees fell to 15-13 on the season, just ahead of the 14-14 Red Sox. Boston has a chance to climb out of last place in the historically good American League East and place the Yankees in the basement in the process. If that turnover in the standings does occur, Red Sox Nation can thank Eovaldi one last time. 

The hard-throwing righty struggled out of the gate this season but now has a respectable 3.93 ERA with a 39-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio, .266 batting average against and 1.15 WHIP across six starts. 

Eovaldi signed a two-year $34 million contract this winter. I'm certain Red Sox fans would have preferred to hand that deal out to him over the one-year, $10 million deal that was given to Corey Kluber.

At least Boston was able to get something back from Eovaldi's departure to Texas. They can take full advantage Sunday if they can take down the Cleveland Guardians and the Rangers win one more against the boys in pinstripes. 

More MLB: White Sox Set To Undergo Firesale; Red Sox Could Target All-Star Starter

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Scott Neville
SCOTT NEVILLE

Scott Neville covers the Boston Red Sox for Sports Illustrated's new page "Inside The Red Sox." Before starting "Inside The Red Sox", Neville attended Merrimack College, where he earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Media with a minor in Marketing. Neville spent all four years with Merrimack's radio station WMCK, where he grew as a radio/podcast host and producer.  His propensity for being in front of a microphone eventually expanded to film, where he produced multiple short films alongside his then-roommate and current co-worker Stephen Mottram. On a journey that began as a way to receive easy credits via film classes, he received a call from "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia" star Charlie Day. Day advised him to make a feature-length film, which he completed his senior year. While writing the film, Neville completed an internship for United Way as part of their NFL Partnership Program. Neville ran the blog for a team of interns and hosted an internet show called "United Way's NFL Partnership Series" where he interviewed NFL alumni. After college Neville wrote for SB Nation's "Over The Monster," a Red Sox sister site of the flagship brand. His work would eventually lead him to a job as a content producer with NESN, where he would cover all sports. After developing as a writer with the top regional network in the world, he was given the opportunity to join the Sports Illustrated Media Group in his current endeavor as the publisher of "Inside The Red Sox." The successful launch and quick rise of "Inside The Red Sox" led to Neville joining the Baseball Essential ownership group, a national baseball site under SIMG. Follow him on Twitter: @ScottNeville46 Email: nevilles@merrimack.edu

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