TEMPE, Ariz. — We’re getting to the point in spring training where the days start to run together.
Nathan Eovaldi started on Monday for the Texas Rangers. He’ll start again Sunday. Or Monday. He thinks. He’ll have another spring training start after that. Or maybe not. It was all getting a little confusing to him after pitching into the fifth in a 15-5 win over the Los Angeles Angels.
Good thing none of those days really matter.
What does is that all signs lead to Eovaldi starting March 28 in the season opener against the Chicago Cubs. Not that anybody is saying that. A year ago, MLB kind of did a group reveal of opening day starters, so maybe that’s in the offing. But, really, with Max Scherzer, Jacob deGrom and Tyler Mahle headed for the IL and Jordan Montgomery still stuck in free agent purgatory, who else could it be besides the guy who went 5-0 with a 2.95 in the 2023 postseason?
In a lot of ways, Monday marked Eovaldi’s big dress rehearsal for the opener. He threw 84 pitches, used his full and varied repertoire, and worked into the fifth against a fairly representative Angels team. Well, as representative a team as the Angels could field with Shohei Ohtani now a Dodger and Mike Trout taking a day off.
His next scheduled start, most likely on Sunday, will be in a minor league game to keep him from facing the Cubs just 10 days before the season opener. After that, one final shorter tuneup on March 22 or 23.
“To me, this was kind of like that last one because you never know who is going to show up on the back fields [for minor league exhibitions],” said Eovaldi, who started three openers for Boston from 2019-22. “There were a lot of positives there and some negatives, too. But I felt really good physically. It’s just the little things that need fine-tuning.”
Eovaldi’s biggest issue was four walks, three of which came with two outs. His last walk forced his exit from the game. Two came after he tried to get back into counts with 2-0 cutters that ran too far in.
“Ultimately, I think the walks cost me an inning,” said Eovaldi, who had allowed just one walk in nine previous innings between “A” and “B” games. “I try to refrain from doing that. So that’s a little frustrating. I’ve got to do a better job of attacking.”
Twitter/X: @Evan_P_Grant
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