SAN FRANCISCO -- Nathan Eovaldi pitched in his 300th Major League game Friday, a solid milestone. Two things made it more special: He won and outdueled a no-doubt Hall of Famer who threw a heck of a game, too.
Eovaldi pitched six shutout innings to best Justin Verlander, who also went six innings. The difference in the Rangers¡¯ 2-0 victory at Oracle Park was left fielder Wyatt Langford, whose bat has been red-hot since he returned from the injured list on April 20.
Langford hit two key doubles against Verlander and added a single, making him 11-for-19 since his oblique injury.
The way Eovaldi has pitched all season, he only needs a couple of clutch hits from his offense to win.
Eovaldi said he did not realize he was pitching his 300th game. That¡¯s 232 fewer than the guy he was facing.
¡°To be able to go against somebody like Verlander, every time he steps on the mound, the things he¡¯s been able to do in his career, every time he goes out there you never know if he¡¯s going to throw a no-hitter,¡± Eovaldi said. ¡°You watch those guys and the way they go about their business and try to learn from them.¡±
Friday¡¯s win mirrored Eovaldi¡¯s career as a whole. As he has gotten better with age, his effort against the Giants improved as the innings rolled on.
In the first inning, Eovaldi surrendered three straight shots that clocked more than 100 mph off the bat, including a Willy Adames drive to center that looked like a home run before it died at the track and a 110 mph Matt Chapman one-hopper that second baseman Marcus Semien speared to engineer the final out of the inning.
Eovaldi went 10 batters without a strikeout before striking out seven of his final 13, including the side in his final inning.
¡°Your good ones get better as they go, and that¡¯s what Nate did,¡± manager Bruce Bochy said.
Eovaldi has so many weapons that he needs only two or three to dominate a team effectively. He threw more sliders than usual against the Giants, and while he could not command them well, he was able to pull that splitter out of his back pocket when he needed a third strike.
¡°You don¡¯t want to get into deep counts with his split,¡± Giants manager Bob Melvin said, ¡°especially in two-strike counts. He was good.¡±
So was Langford, who was a big contributor before he got hurt. His time on the injured did not upset his swing or timing.
¡°I felt good throughout the whole thing,¡± he said. ¡°I was in a good spot before, so I was able to just keep going with that.¡±
Langford¡¯s third-inning double scored Jake Burger and gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead, just the 10th Rangers hit this season with a runner in scoring position and two outs, the fewest in the Majors.
Langford thought he had another RBI double in the sixth after a Josh Smith single, but the Giants won a replay challenge that showed the ball bouncing off the turf and hitting a second wall beyond the home run line in center before it ping-ponged back to the field.
Smith, who went first-to-home on the hit, was ordered back to third base on the automatic double. Joc Pederson -- getting his first RBI of the season -- brought Smith home with a single off the glove of diving second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald.