Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi turned himself into a legend last night in the Game Three loss to the Dodgers. Pitching the most dominating performance in postseason history.
This World Series is playing out to be one of the greatest of all time. Last night’s Game Three at Dodger Stadium took seven hours and twenty minutes to complete, ending at 3:30 AM Eastern Time. The Red Sox put everything into trying to win that game but fell short in the 18th inning.
One pitcher who shined last night for the Red Sox came out of the bullpen. Nathan Eovaldi came into the game in the 12th inning on one day of rest and threw 97 pitches. It was the most dominating performance by a pitcher in World Series history.
Eovaldi took the loss, however, he threw six innings giving up just three hits. Before this week Eovaldi never pitched on consecutive days in his career. Cora put Eovaldi on the mound for the third time in four days last night.
His velocity didn’t miss a step as he was throwing 97 mph in his seventh inning of relief. It’s no question Eovaldi has been the best pitcher this postseason from the ALDS to the World Series. Last night he took his game to another level on baseball’s biggest stage.
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In this postseason he’s 2-1 with a 1.61 ERA. In 22 innings pitched he’s given up just four earned runs, one 16 strikeouts. He’s only allowed one home run which came early this morning in Game Three.
Eovaldi threw four more pitches than any other Red Sox pitcher this postseason. He was supposed to start in Game Four tonight but after last night’s performance, the Game Four starter is to be determined. He also showed determination pitching on such short rest and dominating for six innings.
Even though he had a rocky season, when it matters the most, that’s when he comes up big. Last night was a clutch performance by him and even out-pitched starter Rick Porcello.
Porcello was brought to tears after the game, according to WEEI’s Rob Bradford.
"“I actually, after the game was over I started crying because that was — I mean, he’s grinding. Every pitch,” said Porcello. “He literally gave everything he had on every single pitch and it was special. It was a lot of fun to watch. That’s the epitome of reaching down deep and I don’t know. I’m really proud of him. I’m proud of the way our guys battled tonight. We came up one run short. So be it. We’ll be back tomorrow.”"
Red Sox President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski looks like a genius bringing in Eovaldi at the trade deadline. Dombrowski knew he would come up big for them in a clutch moment. His average exit velocity for the 2018 postseason is 88.1 which is pretty impressive since how much he’s been pitching.
Now with turning the page to Game Four, Eovaldi probably won’t be used tonight. However, we’ll remember his dominant performance in Game Three of the World Series for a long time. If the Red Sox win the World Series, Eovaldi should be the MVP.