The Houston Astros hit five home runs in one inning on Tuesday night, all off Boston Red Sox pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.
Despite his status at a strikeout artist, Eovaldi has been known to be erratic at times with his pitch selection. On Tuesday afternoon, one bad start became a nightmare for the Red Sox.
Eovaldi didn’t make it out of the second inning, allowing eight hits, nine runs and six of them earned. Five of those hits were home runs.
Tuesday was a concerning culmination of a season that’s been filled with the long ball for Eovaldi, despite power numbers and runs dropping across the league so far.
For the Astros, they became just the eighth team to hit five home runs in an inning, humbling Eovaldi in the process. The Sox ace’s ERA ballooned to 4.32 with his brutal performance.
Red Sox: Nathan Eovaldi humbled by Astros
“In the past, I feel every time I’ve faced the Astros, they came out swinging, and try to jump on the fastball,” Eovaldi said. “I was able to locate it in the first, had a quick first inning. Tried to do the same thing the second inning, and they didn’t miss.”
Houston is on fire, winners of eight out of their last ten games. The Astros have taken over first place in the AL West from the Los Angeles Angels. There’s a reason they sit so high in our latest MLB Power Rankings.
While Alex Cora downplayed it as one bad start, Eovaldi acknowledged he hasn’t been the same so far this season.
“Body wise, I feel really good. Mechanically, I felt good,” Eovaldi said. “But again, I have to come out of the gate locked in on my location a little bit better.”
Eovaldi’s pitch selection, which was fastball-heavy in that second inning, needs to be better, as well.