Nathan Eovaldi proves 'Big Game Nate' nickname is no joke as Rangers pull even with Astros in AL West chase

Entering yesterday's matchup against the Boston Red Sox, Nathan Eovaldi has logged just 20 relief appearances over his 15-year career. It's been a career that's earned him the nickname "Big Game Nate," but those clutch performances came as a starter. No one truly knew how the Texas Rangers hurler would respond to his new role.

MacKenzie Gore's hot streak is officially over. He entered yesterday's matchup with a 7.88 ERA over his previous four starts. It was more of the same against Boston as Gore labored over four innings, allowing three runs, walking three, and recording just one strikeout.

The bullpen, especially in the middle innings, has struggled, and as a result, Skip Schumaker went to Jakob Junis in the fifth. Junis rebounded after a couple of recent rough outings and delivered a scoreless frame. The problem was how Texas could navigate the next four innings, claim the lead, and not burn through the majority of the bullpen.

Enter Eovaldi. In his second relief appearance of 2026, the right-hander came in and went the distance, throwing the next four innings and allowing just one hit. The Rangers put up a three spot in the seventh to break the tie and tacked on an additional insurance run in the eighth to secure a 7-3 victory. With that, the team reached .500 (yet again) and, at 76-76, pulled even with the Houston Astros atop the AL West.

The Astros hold the tiebreaker over the Rangers, so there is still work to be done. Texas still trails the Chicago White Sox by a game for the final wild card spot, too.

Nathan Eovaldi highlights the gritty Rangers clubhouse with some grit of his own

The Rangers head into the series finale with a tough task. While Texas got a gift over the first two games with how the Red Sox's rotation lined up, it now has to face Boston ace Sonny Gray, who has a 2.76 ERA this season.

A couple of weeks ago, we'd chalked that up as an automatic loss. Now, we're not so sure. The Rangers have come alive and shown some fight. Eovaldi explained it best after the game.

"For us to be able to come out and play well these first two games... it shows the grit that we have in the clubhouse," Eovaldi said. We don't disagree, and we'll point to him as the biggest example of that grit.

Obviously, it's unreasonable to expect Eovaldi to go four innings out of the 'pen every night. But if he can be an impact multi-inning reliever down the stretch (and into the playoffs, we hope), it will be huge for Texas.

The Rangers are ridiculously successful when they finish seven innings with a lead. Jacob Latz and his four-plus-out dominance are a big reason why. The issue has been consistently getting Latz the ball. Now, it looks like Eovaldi can be a big part of papering over the team's greatest weakness, and if he continues pitching up to his reputation in the middle innings, the Rangers' fortunes will continue getting brighter, and the playoffs will feel inevitable. This is "Big Game Nate 2.0 - Reliever Edition," and we're here for it.

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