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Rangers' bad injury luck continues as Nathan Eovaldi forced to leave game early

The Rangers continue to be the walking wounded.
Eric Cole
Eric Cole

Nolan Writin'

Washington Nationals v Texas Rangers / Ron Jenkins/GettyImages

Considering how many injuries the Texas Rangers have had to deal with already this season, it is kind of a miracle that they have managed to stay afloat at all in 2024. Jacob deGrom, Max Scherzer, Cody Bradford, Josh Jung, Josh Sborz, Brock Burke, Nathaniel Lowe, and Justin Foscue are just some of the guys who either are hurt or have been hurt this season, which is almost enough to field a pretty decent team all on its own.

There had been some hope that the Rangers were starting to come out of this stretch. Lowe came back and has looked good; Sborz returned from the IL and has already made a couple of appearances out of the bullpen; and Scherzer is finishing his rehab assignment soon.

And still, Texas may need all the help it can get as Nathan Eovaldi was forced to leave his latest start on Thursday with what has initially been called right groin tightness.

Rangers News: Nathan Eovaldi pulled from start against Nats early with groin injury

First off, it is way too early to start wondering if Eovaldi is going to miss any time, including his next start. Groin tightness just has too much variance when it comes to actual severity. Plus, Eovaldi had already gone five plus innings on 92 pitches, so Texas could be being extra conservative in how they are handling one of their top starters.

Still, Eovaldi doesn't have a great track record when it comes to injuries as he's had two Tommy Johns and has also missed time with calf, back, and shoulder injuries over the years. One hopes that this is a minor issue, but one cannot take anything for granted especially given the Rangers' luck with injuries this year.

The good news is that even if Eovaldi is out, Scherzer should be back soon assuming his thumb settles down, while Jack Leiter has looked really good since being sent back to the minors after his disastrous major league debut. Obviously losing a guy that has been the Rangers' best starter this season isn't ideal, but it also isn't something Texas is unfamiliar with at this point.

More Texas Rangers News from Nolan Writin'

Eric Cole

Eric Cole

I started my career writing about baseball covering the Atlanta Braves for SB Nation's Talking Chop back in 2015 which has since been renamed Battery Power. After years of writing for those fine folks, I made the decision to take over as Site Expert at House That Hank Built before becoming a full-time MLB Staff Writer for FanSided in 2023. Along the way, I have been a guest on multiple ESPN radio affiliates as well as 680 The Fan and 92.9 The Game to discuss Braves baseball and especially Braves prospects and was a long-time host on the Battery Power podcast. These days, I continue to write about the Braves as well as covering the Astros, Padres, and Angels with particular expertise with minor league coverage, the MLB Draft, and bashing Anthony Rendon when possible. When I am not writing about or talking about baseball (which is seldom), I am an avid baseball card collector (Maddux and Soroka being my primary personal collections) and I also collect shark teeth. All other sports are mostly dead to me as my Bills have broken my heart too many times.