Eovaldi’s masterpiece powers Rangers to win over Yankees

Published 11:25 pm Tuesday, August 5, 2025

ARLINGTON — Texas Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was asked at the start of this three-game series vs. the New York Yankees exactly how long it takes him to gather an authentic grasp of who or what, exactly, his team is.

“Well,” Bochy responded, “I’d like to think the first month.”

The Rangers have been at times a difficult team to assess. Tuesday’s 2-0 win vs. the Yankees at Globe Life Field, though, offered a startlingly accurate snapshot of a season’s worth of gripes and grimaces. The Rangers pitched brilliantly, so much so that one of baseball’s best offenses was largely silenced, but it took nearly eight innings to overcome their inability to garner a single clutch hit rendered the performance moot.

What else is new?

Right-handed starter Nathan Eovaldi continued his remarkable season and pitched eight shutout innings vs. his former club and earned the win in a sixth consecutive start thanks to a two-run single from first baseman Rowdy Tellez that broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the eighth.

Eovaldi held American League MVP candidate Aaron Judge to an 0 for 3 line with a pair of strikeouts in his first game back off of the injured list and limited the Yankees, who’ve scored more runs than any team in baseball this season, to a single base runner.

Eovaldi, who allowed just a double to Anthony Volpe in the third inning, has a 1.38 ERA in 19 starts this season and a 0.47 ERA in his last six. He was named the American League Pitch of the Month for July after he posted one of the best individual months by any starter in franchise history and won all five games that he started.

That streak continued Monday thanks to Tellez, who in the eighth vs. right-hander Devin Williams, saw nine pitches before he lifted a changeup into center field for a bases-loaded single. Right fielder Adolis García, who led the inning off with a double, and designated hitter Joc Pederson, who walked to reach base in a fifth consecutive plate appearance, both scored on the hit.

It snapped a gruesome streak of ineptitude with runners on base. The leadoff hitter reached second base in four of the game’s first six innings and scored zero times. The Rangers went 1 for 16 with runners in scoring position and were 0 for 13 before Tellez stepped to the plate in the eighth.

Right-handed pitcher Phil Maton, whom the Rangers acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to record his first save with the team.

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