Red Sox right-handed pitcher Nathan Eovaldi moves to bullpen
Boston Red Sox right-hander Nathan Eovaldi has been moved to the bullpen. He will come in Tuesday after Chris Sale pitches.
The Boston Red Sox are moving Nathan Eovaldi to the bullpen.
Manager Alex Cora announced on Friday that Chris Sale will return to pitch against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday for the opener of that series. Eovaldi will relieve the starter, who is expected to be limited to two innings.
Nathan Eovaldi to the bullpen for now, will pitch behind Chris Sale, who will be the “opener” on Tuesday for two innings. Slow build up from there for Sale.
— Jason Mastrodonato (@JMastrodonato) September 7, 2018
Eovaldi has struggled as a starter for the Red Sox going 2-3 with a 4.10 ERA. In the last month as a starter, Eovaldi has given up 43 hits, 17 earned runs, eight walks, and 20 strikeouts. Eovaldi started great his first two starts with the Red Sox then has struggled the last three weeks. He had a tough outing against the Tampa Bay Rays, giving up eight hits and only lasting four innings.
That’s when Pedro Martinez saw something different in Eovaldi’s delivery and thought he could work with him on that. Before Eovaldi pitched against the Chicago White Sox, Pedro was working with him in the Red Sox bullpen during the week. However, Eovaldi would only last two innings against the White Sox due to a rain delay. Then against the Atlanta Braves, Eovaldi gave up two hits, walked four, and struck out four. He only pitched 2.1 innings against the Braves. With him, coming out of the bullpen could be a little scary.
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In innings 1-3, Eovaldi has a 4.47 ERA with seven home runs, 52 hits, 10 walks, and 50 strikeouts. In innings 4-6, he has a 3.68 ERA, with seven home runs, 39 hits, five walks, and 23 strikeouts. Finally, in innings 7-9, it’s his worst ERA with 5.06. However, he’s given up zero home runs, had one walk, and five strikeouts. That ERA seems high when he gave up zero home runs in those innings.
There have only been two times when Eovaldi has come in as a relief pitcher in his career – in 2011 and in 2016. Altogether, he’s pitched 10 innings, given up six hits, three runs, and five strikeouts. His ERA was 2.61.
The bullpen has been talked about a lot this season when it comes to the Red Sox. Besides the explosive offense, the bullpen has struggled this season but it’s not letting the Sox down as they continue to find ways to win. When Eovaldi comes in after Sale pitches two innings on Tuesday, we’ll see how he does against a team like the Blue Jays who aren’t going to make the playoffs. If Pedro helped Eovaldi with his mechanics, which helps his velocity and location better, then great.
Three Up, Three Down. dark. Next
That 2.61 ERA is where he needs to be. The Red Sox have a pretty easy schedule after the Astros leave on Sunday. They open Tuesday with the Blue Jays, then the weekend against the Mets. Plenty of time for Eovaldi to work on his mechanics in game situations so that come October, he’s throwing fire.