Nathan Eovaldi is making a habit of tormenting the New York Yankees—and the Boston Red Sox are loving every minute of it.
The Texas Rangers right-hander, who helped the Red Sox capture the 2018 World Series title, delivered another masterful performance against the Bronx Bombers on Wednesday. Eovaldi held the Yankees to just three hits and one run over eight dominant innings, striking out a season-high eight batters in a 6-1 Texas victory. The only blemish? A solo home run from Aaron Judge, his 15th of the year.
This gem comes just one week after Eovaldi tossed seven scoreless innings against the same lineup in a 3-0 Rangers win on April 29. That's back-to-back starts where the 36-year-old has completely neutralized one of baseball's most dangerous offenses.
For the Red Sox, who completed a three-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers on the same day, Eovaldi's success has a welcome side effect: it's helping close the gap in the American League East standings. Boston now sits nine games behind the division-leading Yankees—a deficit that would be even larger without Eovaldi's heroics.
What makes this stretch so impressive is the context. Eovaldi entered 2026 with sky-high expectations after posting a sparkling 1.73 ERA last season, but his first six outings were a struggle—he carried a 5.79 ERA into late April. Then came a rough start against the Athletics on April 24, where he surrendered four home runs. Since then? He's completely flipped the script, and the Yankees have paid the price.
The two-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion (he also won with the Rangers in 2023) has now posted a career 2.94 ERA and 1.01 WHIP across 140 2/3 innings against New York. Unfortunately for the Red Sox, Thursday's matinee marks the final meeting between the Rangers and Yankees this season.
But for one more game, Boston fans can sit back and enjoy watching a familiar face do what he does best: shut down the Evil Empire.