After his second Tommy John surgery, the hard-throwing Eovaldi has become one of the key members of the Red Sox pitching staff and has positioned himself well to cash in as a free agent this winter…
LOS ANGELES — Nate Eovaldi was prepping to make a start in Game 4 of the World Series.
He ended up making his “start” in a relief role a few hours earlier, in Game 3 on Friday night.
Eovaldi, a former Dodgers prospect who has bounced back from his second Tommy John surgery to be one of the Boston Red Sox most valuable and versatile pitchers in October, was summoned for the 12th inning in Game 3.
Eovaldi stayed on the mound for six-plus innings, coming up an error shy of picking up the victory in the 13th, before ending up taking the loss when he gave up a Max Muncy homer in the 18th. He became the first pitcher to throw at least four extra innings in a World Series game since Babe Ruth in 1916.
Still, he’s now allowed four earned runs in 22-1/3 innings so far in the postseason, busting off 100 mph fastballs all along the way.
Even late into the night in a marathon relief outing.
This performance has come just as he’s about to hit the free agent market, hitting a huge jackpot for a career that was in jeopardy.
Not that he felt that way.
“I never thought that I wouldn’t be here,” Eovaldi said before Friday’s game. “I was going to trust (the doctors and trainers) and trust my abilities and do what they told me, and be honest with them about being healthy and take it from there.”
The Dodgers, who had Eovaldi between surgeries, didn’t see this.
Eovaldi had Tommy John surgery during his junior year in high school in the Houston area. That surgery was enough to drop Eovaldi to the 11th round of the 2008 draft, where the Dodgers grabbed him.
Eovaldi got to the majors as a 21-year-old and pitched well, out of the bullpen and occasionally in the rotation, but he wasn’t consistent. He walked too many hitters.
“I definitely feel like I’ve changed a lot since then,” Eovaldi said. “I’ve changed a lot. Back then I had the fastball and slider. Now I’ve got all my other pitches.”
The Dodgers traded Eovaldi to the Marlins in the Hanley Ramírez deal in July 2012. With the Marlins, Eovaldi learned a splitter. He also added a cutter that he’d started learning with Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt.
His secondary pitches further developed when he was with the Yankees, but that’s when his elbow blew again. In August 2016, he had to have another Tommy John surgery, along with a separate procedure to repair a flexor tendon.
The Tampa Bay Rays signed Eovaldi, even though he couldn’t pitch in 2017, and he rewarded them by coming back strong in 2018. They then traded him to the Red Sox, and he had a 3.33 ERA in 12 games with Boston.
But once the playoffs began, Eovaldi has been a key part of shoring up the bridge between the Red Sox other starters and closer Craig Kimbrel. Eovaldi has pitched four times in relief in the postseason, including in all three World Series games.
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Eovaldi said before the game he’s happy that manager Alex Cora has the confidence to use him in any situation.
“It’s encouraging,” Eovaldi said. “It’s reassuring for me that A. C., (pitching coach Dana LeVangie) and everybody is putting their faith in me that I’ll be able to go out and get the job done, whether it’s starting or coming out of the pen. I value that in myself, that I’ll be able to come in any situation, especially in the playoffs. If the team asks me to take the ball, that I need to be ready to do so.”
Eovaldi’s two looks at the Dodgers in relief may have helped prepare him to start against them. Any World Series appearance is special, but it will carry a little bit of nostalgia for Eovaldi as he faces the team that brought him to the majors.
“It definitely feels like a long time ago,” Eovaldi said. “It’s kind of crazy. that’s where I started and now here we are in the World Series… I’ve definitely had my ups and downs since then. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it.”
Staff writers J. P. Hoornstra and Bill Plunkett contributed to this story.
