When most of the baseball world last saw Nathan Eovaldi, he was pitching deep into the night at Dodger Stadium in Game 3 of the World Series. The Red Sox eventually lost that game, but Eovaldi’s heroics allowed Boston to save its bullpen and knock off the Dodgers in five games for another world title.
What you might not remember is that Eovaldi then signed a big four-year contract with the team, started poorly this season and then hit the injured list with a sore elbow in late April.
But now he’s back — and back in a relief role, though he won’t be throwing seven innings out of the bullpen any time soon. Eovaldi had an impressive rehab start in Triple-A and will join the team this weekend in Baltimore.
Nathan Eovaldi struck out the side in what is likely to be his only rehab appearance before rejoining the Sox: https://t.co/mgU4fR1WVb
— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) July 18, 2019
A boost to the bullpen
As they have clawed their way back from a bad start into wild card contention, the Red Sox have leaned heavily on Matt Barnes and Brandon Workman in the late innings. That’s where Eovaldi comes in.
“It’s very significant. That’s one more arm,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora told The Boston Globe. “It’s kind of like the domino effect, like, one more guy is going to help us get the previous inning and the previous inning and the previous inning.”
In fact, according to NESN, it’s possible Eovaldi could eventually become the team’s closer.
According to sources, the Red Sox plan on using Nathan Eovaldi as their closer when he returns from the Injured List. https://t.co/cxrS0ZErV0
— Tom Caron (@TomCaron) July 2, 2019
Moving forward
Cora said Eovaldi likely would rest Friday and then be ready to go for the Red Sox either Saturday or Sunday.
How much Boston uses him — and how often in high-leverage situations — remains to be seen. But getting their World Series hero back seems like it can only be a positive for the defending champs.
Nathan Eovaldi strikes out the side with the @PawSox.
Fastball: 98 MPH
Cutter: 94 MPH
Curveball: threw 2 and got backwards K’s on both pic.twitter.com/HKgERjQJXn— Mike Monaco (@MikeMonaco_) July 18, 2019
