By ESPN | Created at 2025-04-02 02:01:43 | Updated at 2025-04-03 03:54:53
1 day ago
ESPN News Services
Apr 1, 2025, 09:43 PM ET
CINCINNATI -- Nathan Eovaldi pitched a four-hitter for the majors' first complete game of the season, and the Texas Rangers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night.
Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.
It was Eovaldi's first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. But, according to ESPN Research, Eovaldi became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the last 30 seasons.
"I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good gameplan going into it," Eovaldi said in his postgame, on-field interview on Victory+. "I thought (Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka) called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game."
In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.
The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.
Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati's first baserunner.
"I think it was the first-pitch strikes," Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient on the night. "But also, the offspeed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn't really have many deep counts. ... And not walking guys helps."
Spiers allowed three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.
The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
