There’s no denying it: What Nathan Eovaldi did Friday night/Saturday morning was one of the greatest pitching performances in Major League Baseball playoff history.
The Boston Red Sox right-hander, on one day of rest, through 97 pitches over six relief innings in his team’s 3-2, extra-innings loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series. Eovaldi gave up the game-winning home run in the 18th inning, but his historic effort still elicited tears from his Red Sox teammates.
After the game, people from all corners of the baseball world praised Eovaldi for the remarkable performance.
Check out some of the reaction:
What Nathan Eovaldi did for the @RedSox was priceless and showed a lot of guts and heart. This outing definitely guarantees that everybody will be looking at him.
— Pedro Martinez (@45PedroMartinez) October 27, 2018
At twitterless eovaldi…dude…that was f****** impressive man. Hats off to you. F***
— Trevor Bauer (トレバー・バウアー) (@BauerOutage) October 27, 2018
Been covering baseball games since I was 16. High school, Legion, college, minors and now the big leagues. What Eovaldi is doing is the most impressive thing I've seen in a game.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) October 27, 2018
Nate Eovaldi doesn't deserve the loss. He deserves a Purple Heart,
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) October 27, 2018
Tough loss @RedSox but still up 2-1. Eovaldi #superman . @REDSOXNATI0N It’s a new day. #DoDamge
— Fred Lynn (@19fredlynn) October 27, 2018
In all of my years in baseball, I’ve never seen the collective pitching talent appearing in one game than last night. One after the other both teams ran out one guy after the other with “electric “ stuff. In the loss Eovaldi SAVED the Sox staff for the remainder of the series.
— Dave Gallagher (@DaveGallagher22) October 27, 2018
Eovaldi's performance falls under all-time great when combined with storyline. The man is coming off his SECOND TJ surgery and is coming up on free agency. Absolute stud. Risking tens of million of future dollars for his team.
— Michael Kay (@RealMichaelKay) October 27, 2018
We don’t deserve Nathan Eovaldi.
— Only In Boston (@OnlyInBOS) October 27, 2018
If you didn’t think pitcher wins were dumb before tonight, please explain how anyone could describe Nate Eovaldi as a “loser”
— Céspedes Family BBQ (@CespedesBBQ) October 27, 2018
https://twitter.com/Marc_Bertrand/status/1056086343577669633
https://twitter.com/MarlyRiveraESPN/status/1056087514761445377
Eovaldi should get a contract extension between innings.
— Casey Stern (@CaseyStern) October 27, 2018
Nite. Thank you for that effort Eovaldi. It was amazing to watch.
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) October 27, 2018
Nathan Eovaldi just went 99.4 mph 4-seam – 97.7 mph 4-seam – 95.6 mph *cutter* to strike out Justin Turner. To end the 17th inning of Game 3 of the World Series. In his 6th inning of relief. On one day of rest. After pitching in both of the first two games. It's incredible.
— David Adler (@_dadler) October 27, 2018
Unfortunately for Eovaldi and the Red Sox, his astonishing effort was all for not. Boston had a chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead in the Fall Classic, but now lead just 2-1 and perhaps have surrendered momentum to Los Angeles.
The Red Sox and Dodgers will meet Saturday night in Game 4. First pitch at Dodger Stadium is scheduled for 8:09 p.m. ET.
