
How the Lightning’s March madness has put them among top Cup contenders — again
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1 year agoon
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Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporterApr 8, 2024, 07:30 AM ET
Close- Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had their own March madness this year. With a March mantra to boot: Just win, baby.
And no surprise — the Lightning did. A lot.
Tampa Bay went 9-1-1 last month, saving their best run of the season (so far) for the stretch drive toward playoffs. It’s not the first time the Lightning have hung back, only to flip the proverbial switch right when points and positioning are paramount.
It’s a sound strategy when successful — even if Tampa Bay isn’t exactly aiming to be so dramatic.
“We’re obviously not trying to wait that long [to get going],” defenseman Victor Hedman said with a laugh. “But yeah, that’s just how things have played out. But we’re always confident in ourselves and we’re confident in the core group that we are going to be able to sustain a high level of play from here for a deep playoff run.”
Tampa Bay certainly knows what it takes to go on one. The Lightning were back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in 2020 and 2021, and reached the Final again in 2022. The accumulation of acclaim made their first-round exit against Toronto in 2023 all the more disappointing — but even additional offseason rest didn’t help the Lightning transition to a new year.
In fact, Tampa Bay downright struggled to start this season. Without goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy — who was sidelined by offseason hip surgery until late November — the Lightning struggled to barely get above .500 and were 18-15-5 on Dec. 31. The Lightning had at that point also lost top-pairing defenseman Mikhail Sergachev to an upper-body injury and were looking for a clear direction.
That was uncharted territory for Tampa Bay after being rapidly locked in to its postseason fate a season ago.
“I think last year at Christmas we knew we were playing the Leafs [in the first round],” Jon Cooper said last week. “This year at Christmas, we knew we weren’t playing the Leafs. It’s been one of those years. I don’t know what our point total was [at this point] last year. But we’re not too far off. It’s just we got to this point in a different way.”
Cooper was right: Tampa Bay had 96 points on April 3, 2023; the Lightning were at 91 points on April 3, 2024, and holding the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot.
So, what changed for Tampa Bay to take it from writhing to thriving? Because finding a way to sneak up on — and slip past — the competition is a tall order even for recent two-time champions. But the Lightning are doing it and hitting their stride after weathering a few storms.
And maybe those past achievements are also pushing Tampa Bay — on and off the ice — to embrace the ride.
“These guys have really in the month of March put them in a spot that you maybe on March 1 we weren’t thinking was going to be like this,” Cooper said. “I’m proud of the guys for what they’ve done. Because you know, every year is different.”
DOWNTIME DURING THE SEASON isn’t usually a bad thing.
Unless you’re the Lightning.
Tampa Bay had just cruised through January at 8-1-0 to arrive at its 10-day layoff between the bye week and All-Star activities. When the Lightning resumed play, though, it was under increasingly choppy seas.
“For whatever reason, our team hasn’t been good coming out of [All-Star] breaks in recent years, and we were true to that this year,” captain Steven Stamkos said. “We went into the break on a good tear. Then we had a couple of games where things really kind of went sideways in terms of what our identity is. We got away from it.”
The first wave hit when Sergachev — back in the lineup on Feb. 7 after a 17-game absence — suffered multiple tibia fractures that same night. He immediately had surgery, and Cooper said Tampa would have to go “deep” in the playoffs to see Sergachev rejoin the team.
The Lightning went downhill from there, finishing February 5-6-1 while barely clinging to a playoff spot.
Their slump presented a significant challenge. Would they let that crack turn into a crevice, swallowing the season whole? Or could they start patching what holes were in front of them?
Tampa Bay chose the latter.
“The coaching staff has a good feel on [what we needed],” Stamkos said. “You have those meetings where things aren’t necessarily pretty watching the video as a player, but it’s one of those moments whereas a group collectively, you have to man up and be better and just pay attention to more details when you don’t have the puck. Those are the harder things to do, but that’s the stuff that wins in playoff time, and the core group of this team knows what that takes.”
That’s not to say losing Sergachev hasn’t stung, or that the Lightning believe they’re in top form without him patrolling their blue line. Forging ahead without Sergachev is just another obstacle in Tampa Bay’s path.
“We’re a much better team when he’s in than out,” Cooper said. “We’ve had to learn to live with it and move on just as years ago when we lost [Stamkos] for a long time in a [2019] playoff run or we lost [Nikita Kucherov] for a year [in 2020-21]. You just have to adapt. The pity party can last for a day, but then you have to move on.”
Fortunately for Tampa Bay, Kucherov has been the molten-hot core of its nucleus this year. The dazzling winger has dominated as a frequent league-leader in points, generating a Hart Trophy-worthy campaign to buoy the Lightning through their inevitable ebbs and flows. It especially kept Tampa Bay afloat while Vasilevskiy rebounded into form.
The Lightning have yearly leaned on Vasilevskiy’s excellence, but the injury clearly set their Vezina Trophy winner back: After his first month in the crease, Vasilevskiy was 7-7-0 with an .899 save percentage and 3.01 goals-against average. Tampa Bay oscillated between Vasilevskiy and backup Jonas Johansson until Vasilevskiy began to look like himself again right around (wait for it) March into April, when he was outstanding at 9-2-1 with a .918% and 2.33 GAA.
Kucherov’s other teammates eventually caught on, too, and the uptick in production across the board made every difference.
By the end of March, Brayden Point had 12 goals in 12 games, Stamkos punched in 17 points in 13 games and Hedman added 12 points in 12 games.
Oh, and Kucherov hit another high note, too, collecting 26 points in 13 games. Casual.
If it weren’t for Kucherov’s consistency, the Lightning would have had an even steeper climb up the standings. He’s without question the team’s MVP, and Hedman believes that candidacy should expand past their dressing room walls.
“[There’s] no debate in my mind [who should win the Hart],” Hedman said. “Just the way he’s carried this team through the adversity we’ve faced and the tough start that we had, he kept producing and trying to get us out of the slump. Now that we have, he’s still producing at an incredibly high level and he’s played big minutes. He’s the smartest player in hockey.”
Lightning GM Julien BriseBois had to be intelligent, too, in supporting Kucherov & Co., but Brisebois’ position heading into the trade deadline was (unsurprisingly) familiar: depth roles having to be filled, with little salary cap space with which to do it.
Stop if you’ve heard this one before, but Tampa Bay found its solutions again.
THE LIGHTNING HAVE A WAY of welcoming fresh faces.
In 2019-20, the Lightning brought in Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow at the trade deadline to help Tampa Bay lift the Cup. The Lightning did it again in 2020-21 with the addition of David Savard. In 2021-22, it was Nicholas Paul and Brandon Hagel joining Tampa Bay’s ranks, and they’ve continued to thrive with the Lightning since.
So BriseBois knew the benefit of bringing in veterans. He found them in landing Anthony Duclair from the San Jose Sharks for a prospect and 2025 seventh-round draft choice, and Matt Dumba (plus a 2025 seventh-round pick) from the Arizona Coyotes for a 2027 fifth-round selection. Both trades followed a typical Tampa Bay pattern of identifying key, depth-related needs and targeting the ideal players to address them.
Naturally, they’ve been a hit already. Since the March 8 deadline, Duclair has emerged as a top-line winger, collecting five goals and 10 points in 11 games, while Dumba has settled into a reliable, third-pairing role.
“The trade deadline [this year] I think was huge,” Hedman said. “For us, we added some pieces, and that’s kind of when our game started to click at a top level. We’ve had some runs throughout the year but for us mostly, after the trade deadline, we’ve been able to kind of cement ourselves with the way we want to play.”
Tampa Bay has remained loyal to many players from its championship run, but there were inevitable cap casualties, too, such as Yanni Gourde, Ryan McDonagh, Alex Killorn, Coleman and Goodrow. Replacing those players year after year is hardly a straightforward task, but somehow the Lightning have become masters of the craft.
“It’s so hard to win in this league,” Stamkos said. “Even the core guys that are still here, as many guys as we’ve lost, we brought in guys that have that same pedigree and management has always done an unbelievable job of just giving us that added boost come trade deadline with making moves. This year, maybe we didn’t have the capital that we had in other years to make big trades but for us, those were big moves. You add a top-six forward and reliable defenseman, and that’s exactly what we need and both those guys bring an element of obvious skill on the ice but character in the room, too. You lose some of those players over the years who just are glue guys in the room, and those [new] guys have fit in really well and sparked us I think.”
The Lightning’s second-half surge wouldn’t have been complete without a little youth movement. Rookie Emil Lilleberg, 23, has been stationed next to Dumba on Tampa’s blue line, and freshman Mitchell Chaffee, 26, can lately be found in a third-line slot with Paul and Michael Eyssimont. They, along with Max Crozier in previous stretches, have been a shot in the arm for the club’s overall mood.
“The youthful energy that has been brought into this room has been great,” Stamkos said. “They’ve done an amazing job on the ice but just that anxiousness, that nervousness, that energy that you have in the room for these young guys, I think that has been a help as well, maybe a little jolt. They’ve certainly played extremely well for us.”
Tampa Bay has used skaters old and new to up the ante on special teams. Going back to March 1, the Lightning own the league’s fifth-ranked power play (28.2%) and it’s No. 1 penalty kill (95.0%), and are tied for the lead in shorthanded goals (3).
The stars have, to put it mildly, aligned for the Lightning. Clinching a seventh consecutive playoff berth seems inevitable. And no, Tampa Bay doesn’t care which team it faces in the first round.
It’s the getting back there that counts — and the incomparable journey that awaits.
SOME EXPERIENCES IN LIFE might have a shelf life. Competing for a Cup isn’t one of them.
That’s what makes the Lightning’s current trajectory so fun — and all the hard days behind (and potentially ahead) of them so worthwhile.
“When you’ve been to the top of the mountain and you have that feeling, it’s almost like an addiction,” Stamkos said. “You want it again because it feels so amazing. You’ve accomplished your ultimate dream and then for the guys who have done that, that’s what drives you to do it again. And I think for the most part, the guys that are still here from those teams still feel that way.”
The exhilaration of winning might never fade, but players themselves do. Careers end in all sorts of ways, and the saddest one is with regrets. That thought alone is enough to fuel those lucky enough to remain in the fight.
“It’s the hunger that doesn’t stop,” Hedman said. “We’re not going to play this game until we’re 45 or 50. It’s a short lifespan, and you’ve just got to embrace every opportunity that you have, and you can’t take anything for granted just because you had success in the past. It’s just making sure that you embrace every situation, embrace every year and you look at it like it might your last chance. And that hunger we have in this room is what’s impressed me the most.”
Cooper’s perspective on winning it all spans beyond just the Lightning lens. It goes out to an appreciation for the fact that Tampa Bay didn’t see its early exodus last spring as a sign of its inevitable demise. It was more like a wakeup call about what’s at stake — and that’s extending the Lightning’s window long past what even they initially believed might be possible.
Tampa Bay has the formula down. Just win, baby.
“It was devastating when we lost to Toronto,” Cooper said. “It’s [lost] time in the league. Not everybody’s blessed to get to play for 15, 20 years. Guys get to play six, seven, eight and in that time, you’ve got to hope you play on a team that makes the playoffs. There are some guys in this league that haven’t had that experience. And they [never] get to have the experience. We’ve had that experience, but you cherish it because you don’t know when you go back. You just don’t know.”
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Sports
What it’s like to be coached by Bill Belichick
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55 mins agoon
August 12, 2025By
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David HaleAug 12, 2025, 07:00 AM ET
Close- College football reporter.
- Joined ESPN in 2012.
- Graduate of the University of Delaware.
CHRISTIAN FAURIA HAD heard all the rumors about his new head coach long before he arrived in New England.
It was 2002, and the former second-round pick had just turned 30. He was a free agent for the first time in his career, on the verge of a decent payday, but he had endured countless ankle injuries, and his primary goal was to protect his body for the long term. Bill Belichick did not seem like the guy to do it.
“The reputation [Belichick had], whether he knew it or not, was he wasn’t good when it came to protecting his players,” Fauria said. “It was rumored to be really tough, and he was supposedly really snarky and unapproachable.”
Still, the New England Patriots were fresh off a Super Bowl, so Fauria rolled the dice. During his initial visit, he had told Belichick about his injury history and his hope to be handled with care to maximize his impact on Sundays, but he hadn’t held out much hope the coach would follow through.
Then came the first week of padded practices in preseason camp. Fauria was jogging out to the field when a trainer stopped him.
“You’re down today,” the trainer said.
Half the team stared at Fauria. He remembers Ty Law chirping, “Why’s he getting a day off already?” He felt a bit guilty, he said, but what was clear is Belichick had kept his word.
As the 2002 season wore on, Fauria realized, more and more, that all the rumors he had heard about his head coach were garbage. Belichick was nothing like he had assumed.
“Everybody has a different experience with Bill,” Fauria said, “but for me, I instantly trusted him, and as a coach, that’s the No. 1 thing you’re trying to achieve.”
What’s it like to play for the greatest coach in NFL history? That’s lesson No. 1. The public image looks nothing like the guy behind the curtain.
As Belichick settles into the coaching job at North Carolina — his first season in college — there are plenty of big questions about what this experiment will look like. Belichick, himself, admits he still has no idea just how good this team can be. But if the setting is new, the Belichick image — and its more grounded counterpoint — look about the same as they did during Fauria’s time in New England. Belichick is a football-obsessed, details-oriented coaching machine, who’s also a teacher at heart and, believe it or not, a pretty funny guy.
“It definitely wasn’t what I expected it to be,” Fauria said of his time with Belichick. “I thought I’d be miserable there, but it was the best four years of my playing career. [Belichick] could not have been more open and honest and approachable. More than any coach I’d ever had, really.”
WHEN QUARTERBACK Gio Lopez jumped from South Alabama to North Carolina this past spring, he knew his new home would come with its share of surreal moments, and he had been waiting for this one.
Here he was, a once-unheralded recruit, now sitting in a film room with a six-time Super Bowl champion head coach, breaking down film of Belichick’s most prized protégé, Tom Brady.
The way Lopez had always studied film was pretty straightforward: Here’s the concept. Here’s your first read, second read and so on. Belichick saw things at another level.
“He’s talking about how a fumble in the second quarter changed the way a play unfolded in the fourth quarter,” Lopez said.
Belichick is the Roger Ebert of game film. He’s obsessed, he’s critical and he sees details in what transpires on film that no one else does.
More importantly, former Patriots great Tedy Bruschi said, Belichick can translate all that information into something easily consumed by the average player in a way few others can.
“As much information as he’ll try to give you, he’ll give it to you in the simplest form he possibly can,” Bruschi said. “He teaches it where you can understand it, digest it and, OK, for my particular job, what I have to do on this play, I’m clear on that. And that’s all he wants you to think about.”
See job, do job. Leave the hard stuff to Belichick.
And so Lopez settled in to watch film of the most successful QB in NFL history with the most successful coach in NFL history expecting Belichick to gush over just how beautifully the system works.
Click.
Brady drops back. Brady unleashes a pass. Julian Edelman hauls it in for a first down.
Thoughts?
“I just thought it was a good play,” Lopez said.
That’s the mistake, Belichick explained. No play is pass-fail. There are degrees of success, and on this one, Brady had fallen well short of the mark.
“If he’d put the ball another 2 feet to the outside,” Belichick explained, “Edelman gains 15 more yards on the play. That changes the entire course of this drive.”
And the outcome of that drive changes what happens on the next one, impacts decisions made late in the game, shifts what the defense is asked to do — dominoes, each one knocking over another before reaching a final score.
Lopez shook his head. This is why he chose North Carolina. This was the secret sauce that made Belichick great, and here he was, a month removed from playing in the Sun Belt, being taught by the master.
“This guy knows it all,” Lopez said. “It’s one of those situations where you sit back, zip your lips and open your ears.”
ALGE CRUMPLER WAS at the tail end of his career when he landed with the Patriots in 2010. He was a star with the Atlanta Falcons, but his body was battered and, if he was being honest, his contributions to an NFL offense were limited now. He could block, which in New England was still a prized asset. He could teach, and the Patriots wanted a mentor for a talented young tight end by the name of Rob Gronkowski, whom they had drafted that year.
That’s what Belichick needed from Crumpler. No more, no less.
“He only puts you on the field to do the things that you’re good at,” Crumpler said.
So Crumpler was a bit surprised when he was tabbed as part of the Patriots’ leadership council that season — a backup tight end winding down his career, sharing the job with Brady, Jerod Mayo and Vince Wilfork. The way Crumpler saw it, he had no business being in the same room with those guys, so he mostly kept his mouth shut.
“I’m sitting there in that room with Tom and Jerod and Vince, and [Belichick’s] getting in-depth with them, and they’re being very candid,” Crumpler recalled. “I didn’t want to say a thing. Why do I need to say anything with this group that’s been here so many years?”
After a few minutes of conversation with the stars, Belichick finally turned and glared at Crumpler, who was silently watching the proceedings.
“You’re here for a f—ing reason,” Belichick said. “Open your mouth.”
Suddenly, a light switched on. The man at the top had given Crumpler his blessing to offer real insight on a team he’d just joined.
“It created a dialogue,” Crumpler said, “and it was a great season.”
Bruschi was already a fixture in the Patriots’ locker room when Belichick arrived in 2000, and at the time, he was best known, as Bruschi said, as “the coach who failed in Cleveland.”
That turned out to be a luxury, Bruschi said. The pair “grew up” together, a relationship of mutual respect in which the player felt empowered to push back.
After three Super Bowls, however, Bruschi saw things begin to change as new players arrived. Belichick certainly wasn’t a failure, but neither was he a normal coach anymore.
“They’d see Belichick as a legend,” Bruschi said. “It’s going to be difficult for these kids to get over the fact that he’s highly accomplished, and he’s just a coach that’s trying to get you better.”
The image is tougher to dismiss when a horde of cameras follows Belichick at every public appearance, and his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, is a social media star.
For Belichick, however, it’s all “noise.”
“It is what it is,” Belichick said, in his typically subdued tone during an interview with ESPN.
And yet, inside the football facility, it’s an image Belichick has tried to discourage. His first team meeting he wore a suit and tie, receiver Jordan Shipp said, and after that, it was all cut-off sweatshirts.
He has made a point of being accessible to players, getting involved in all segments during practice, insisting on an air of approachability.
“Some of it is me coming to them,” Belichick said.
It’s the side of Belichick few outside the locker room see, but, if anything, it’s the real Belichick.
“You’ll see Coach laugh,” Crumpler said of his time in New England. “You never see it in the media. He can tell a story every day that will make you laugh, but still be serious at the same time. That was great.”
It was mid-May, however, and Shipp had to go to his head coach with a request for some time away.
There were meetings scheduled Shipp knew were important, but his younger brother was going to graduate that week, and …
Belichick stopped him in his tracks.
“That’s something you don’t miss,” Belichick told him.
Skip the meetings. Go home. Be with family. That mattered more.
If there’s anything the UNC sophomore has learned about his new head coach in the past eight months, it’s that the image Belichick has curated with the media has never matched reality for his players.
“Sometimes you forget it’s the greatest coach of all time,” Shipp said. “His office is always open. I can go in and watch film whenever. It’s a safe space with him at all times.”
JAMIE COLLINS HAD crushed the combine in 2013, and a slew of requests followed from teams hoping for private workouts ahead of the draft. He had participated in his share, but by early April, he was done. He had called his agent and given an ultimatum: no more.
It was a little strange then that his phone kept buzzing one morning soon after his edict. He had calls from his agent, a few coaches, some teammates. He ignored them all.
Then came the beating on his bedroom door, his roommate yelling, “Bill Belichick wants to see you.”
Belichick was interested in drafting Collins, and no mandate against additional private workouts was going to stop him from seeing the guy play, so he simply showed up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, unannounced, and expected Collins to comply.
Collins did.
“He put me through it, man,” Collins said. “He tried to break me.”
Collins’ determination was the last thing Belichick needed to see before the Patriots drafted him in the second round. He would spend seven years playing for Belichick before following him into coaching this year at North Carolina.
That’s the other part of Belichick’s magic formula, Collins said. He wants players willing to maximize all Belichick has to teach them. It’s a two-way street. He demands much, but the buy-in from his players — they have to provide that willingly. That’s the test they must pass before they can gain access to the vault of football knowledge Belichick has to share.
Upon arrival in Chapel Hill, Belichick branded the Tar Heels as “the 33rd NFL team,” conjuring an image of militaristic fervor — all football, all the time. And yet, UNC’s players insist it’s not that way at all. If anything, they’re enjoying more freedom than ever.
“I was expecting him to be a lot of what you see in interviews — very mundane, always cussing you out,” safety Will Hardy said. “He’s an encourager.”
Yes, Belichick has brought a lot of the NFL to UNC — GM Michael Lombardi, a former Patriots strength coach, a chef.
But, Lopez said, there are fewer meetings than he was used to at South Alabama, and while the players are expected to work with a sense of professionalism, Belichick and his staff have largely allowed them the freedom to do so without micromanagement.
“They expect you to want to be great,” Lopez said. “It’s more like they expect you to want to learn it. It’s a lot different than South Alabama. They give you more room to function.”
He did that in pros, and he’s giving the Tar Heels the same freedom to choose their path.
“He treats you like a grown man,” Collins said. “And he’s going to provide everything you need to be successful. That’s where that expectation comes from. He’s not going to ask anything from you that he hasn’t already given you [what] you need to accomplish it.”
There are ample questions about how Belichick’s NFL pedigree will translate to the college game, and his interactions with 18- to 22-year-old players is at the top of the list.
But Collins admits that might be the one way his old coach has changed. Belichick has softened around the edges a bit.
“I’ve seen the Bill that was coaching us,” said Collins, UNC’s inside linebackers coach. “And I’ve seen a different side of Bill coaching these guys. That’s the eliteness of him, understanding situations. It’s what makes him great. It’s still Bill though.”
Fauria thinks the new age of college football actually lends to Belichick’s strengths. Players view themselves as professionals more than ever before, and in a game increasingly determined by dollars and cents, the old rules of placating personalities rather than simply paying for talent are out the window.
“If this was 10 years ago, I don’t know if he’d have the stomach for it,” Fauria said. “I’m not sure if he’s willing to go to someone’s house and do ‘The Electric Slide’ in someone’s living room. But Bill is prepared for this. He’s tailor-made for this job based on how it has evolved.”
Will it look a little different at North Carolina? Probably, but the core of the process, Bruschi said, won’t change. From those first days in the Patriots’ locker room in 2000 to the first days in Chapel Hill now, Belichick is the same guy with the same laser focus on football and the same approach to building a team. The success or failure of that methodology will, according to the players who’ve won rings with him in New England, depend on how much these Tar Heels are willing to maximize the experience, not on how well Belichick adapts to his new surroundings.
“If you’re looking for structure, you’re going to get it,” Fauria said. “If you’re looking for knowledge, you’re going to get it. If you’re looking for a road map and directions and information and the why — why are we doing this? — he literally tells you. He’d give you examples. Tons of information. When people say he’s going to have you more prepared than anybody, I don’t think that’s hyperbole. It’s demanding and it’s hard, but if you crave the challenge and appreciate the grind and you love football, there’s nobody better.”
Sports
Eovaldi’s impressive streak ends, but Rangers rally
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55 mins agoon
August 12, 2025By
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Associated Press
Aug 11, 2025, 10:26 PM ET
ARLINGTON, Texas — Nathan Eovaldi‘s impressive streak for Texas ended with a dud, but without a decision in a victory that the wild card-chasing Rangers really needed.
After going 6-0 with a 0.47 ERA in six starts since the start of July, Eovaldi was tagged for three home runs while allowing season highs of five runs and eight hits in five innings against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night. The Rangers were down 5-1 when he exited, but won 7-6 in 10 innings to end their four-game losing streak.
“That’s all that matters at the end of the day,” Eovaldi said. “Regardless how well I do out there or anything, it’s about the team winning the games. Especially with where we are at this point of the season and everything.”
The 35-year-old right-hander struck out three, walked one and hit two batters. He got a no-decision because Rowdy Tellez homered in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, and Jake Burger delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the 10th.
“Nate’s been so, so good. And he just showed that, hey, you’re gonna have occasional games where you don’t quite command it as well. And they took advantage of it,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “But he’s picked us up so many times. So man, what a great job by the boys. And find a way to win that ball game with just a gutty effort by everybody, bullpen, hitters. We needed this one.”
Eovaldi had given up only six runs total over his previous seven starts, and half of those runs came in the same game. There had only been two long balls against him his past 14 games.
When he pitched one-hit ball over eight innings in a 2-0 win over the New York Yankees last Tuesday, it was the 13th time in a 14-game span allowing one or zero runs. Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson is the only pitcher since 1900 to record that kind of streak, according to STATS, and he did it in 1968, the season he won both the NL Cy Young and MVP awards.
“I’ve got to make better pitches, stick to my strengths and what’s worked for me all year,” Eovaldi said. “And I kind of got away from that a little bit tonight.”
Even though Evoladi’s overall ERA rose from 1.38 to 1.71, that is still better than the 1.94 of qualified MLB leader Paul Skenes. The AL leader is reigning Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal at 2.35.
Eovaldi, who missed most of June with elbow inflammation, has thrown 116 innings in the Rangers’ 120 games. Pitchers need one inning per team game to qualify as a league leader.
Arizona’s first five batters were retired before rookie first baseman Tyler Locklear homered in the second. Jake McCarthy opened the third with a double and Corbin Carrol followed with his 26th homer, a shot that ricocheted off the right-field pole. Ketel Marte was then hit by a pitch on his left elbow before Geraldo Perdomo’s 12th homer for a 5-0 lead.
“I didn’t feel like my splitter was as good as it has been. I thought I threw a lot of pitches up at the top of the strike zone, and I feel like that’s where a lot the damage was,” Eovaldi said. “I fell behind in some of the counts. The Perdomo at-bat, I yanked a fastball right down the middle. … The two-run shots, they hurt.”
Eovaldi benefitted from double plays in both the fourth and fifth innings to avoid giving up any more run. The Dbacks were coming off a 17-hit game in their 13-6 win at home over Colorado on Sunday, when they set a franchise record with nine consecutive hits in the fifth inning – all with two outs.
Only four MLB pitchers since 1920 had a lower ERA than the 1.38 for Eovaldi in the first 19 starts of a season, with Gibson’s 1.06 for St. Louis in 1968 the lowest.
This is Eovaldi’s third season with the Rangers, who gave him the $100,000 All-Star bonus that is in his contract even though he was left off the American League All-Star team last month.
Sports
Astros’ Hader sidelined with shoulder discomfort
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55 mins agoon
August 12, 2025By
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Associated Press
Aug 11, 2025, 11:53 PM ET
HOUSTON — Astros‘ All-Star closer Josh Hader was unavailable Monday night after experiencing shoulder discomfort.
Manager Joe Espada said after Houston’s 7-6 win over the Red Sox that the left-hander said “he just did not feel right” after a workout Monday, and the Astros sent him for testing.
“We’re waiting on those results, and we should have something more tomorrow,” Espada said.
Espada didn’t specify which shoulder was bothering Hader.
Hader, who is in his second season in Houston, is 6-2 with a 2.05 ERA and is tied for third in the majors with 28 saves in 48 appearances this season.
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