Rangers 2, Yankees 0
ARLINGTON, Tex. (Apr 29) The Texas Rangers got the best of the New York Yankees on Saturday by beating them by a score of 2–0. It was the bat of shortstop Ezequiel Duran that provided the Rangers’ offense on this crisp night in Arlington. Duran hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth in front of a record-setting crowd of 40,027 at Globe Life Field to secure the win, and the series lead for his team. The Rangers look to go for the series win against the Yankees on Sunday at 1:35 pm Central at Globe Life Field. Left-hander Nestor Cortes (3–1, 3.49 ERA) will be the starting pitcher for the Yankees. The Rangers will send fellow lefty Martin Perez (3–1, 2.60 ERA) to the mound in the finale.
Duran Duran
It was a real pitcher’s duel until the bottom of the fifth. Ezequiel Duran put a stop to that by putting the Rangers ahead 2–0 with a two-run blast to left center. That was all the offense that they needed in this one. It was the second home run of the season for the 23-year-old shortstop. Duran registered a game-high 111.7 mph exit velocity on the homer (Statcast). It was his 2nd-highest exit velocity of the season (112.8-mph double on April 23 against the Oakland Athletics).
He has reached base safely via H/BB/HBP in a career-high 11 straight games (beginning April 18). Duran has batted .395/.439/.632/1.071 (15-38) with two home runs, three doubles and ten RBI over the course of the streak. This raises his season BA from .150 to .310. The home run was given up by Yankees starter Jhony Brito. Brito wound up with the loss after pitching five innings for the Yankees. Along with the two-run homer to Duran, he walked one, struck out five, and gave up four hits.
Eovaldi Pitches a Gem
Rangers starter Nathan Eovaldi recorded his second career complete game shutout (also five shutout innings on 10/4/22 against the Tampa Bay Rays as a member of the Boston Red Sox). It marked the first complete game shutout by a Ranger since Martín Pérez on 5/20/22 against the Houston Astros (9 IP). Up until Saturday, no Rangers pitcher had ever thrown a complete game shutout at Globe Life Field.
The last Ranger to throw a shutout in Arlington was Mike Minor on 4/16/19 against the Los Angeles Angels (9 SHO IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 SO) at the former Globe Life Park. Eovaldi pitched nine innings, giving up three hits, and no runs. He didn’t walk anybody and struck out eight. He threw 113 pitches, 78 of which were for strikes. Eovaldi becomes the first Ranger to produce a shutout against the Yankees since Derek Holland on 6/27/13 at Yankee Stadium (9 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 SO). The last Rangers pitcher to blank the Yankees was Bob Tewksbury on 7/7/95 (9.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 SO).
Postgame Comments
When asked what his thoughts were on Nathan Eovaldi’s night, Rangers manager Bruce Bochy was very complimentary. He said “He was just on his game. All four of his pitches were working really well. He had great command tonight. He maintained his stuff in the ninth inning, as well as good pace throughout the game. It was just a fun and entertaining game to watch.”
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Eovaldi also met with the media after the game and elaborated more on his outing by saying “I had a pretty good feel of the ball night. I felt pretty sharp in the bullpen as well before the game, so that really helped me settle down when the game started. He was also asked if he was concerned with only having two runs to work with all night. He responded by saying “I tried to stay as locked in as possible. There were zeroes going up on the board all night, and Ezequiel was able to put up those two runs, and we were able to shut the door, and it felt really good.”
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