Boston Red Sox: 3 players who rocked the Orioles on Opening Day

3. Nathan Eovaldi embraces role of Boston Red Sox ace

Boston Red Sox starter Nathan Eovaldi has the stuff to be great.  It is just a matter of consistency and health as he proved during the team’s 2018 World Series run.

In a shortened season without Chris Sale and Eduardo Rodriguez sidelined for at least another week, all eyes were on Eovaldi Friday night and he delivered.

After being staked to a 10-0 lead, Nathan Eovaldi was basically on cruise control.  In tossing six innings, giving up one run on just five hits, the hard-throwing righty set the tone for the Boston Red Sox starting rotation with the type of performance the team needs out of him.

In tossing 89 pitches, the competitive nature of Eovaldi was what really shined in the 13-2 victory.  He was simply in command and would’ve been victorious even if the team didn’t go on an offensive explosion.  That command is something that really made Red Sox manager Ron Roenicke smile after the game.

"“Yeah, I thought it was really good,” Roenicke said in a postgame conference via Zoom, as transcribed by NESN.  “I thought he got a little bit tired there in the last inning, the sixth inning.  But he did exactly what we needed him to do.  Commanded his pitches well, obviously his fastball, first pitch of the game as 100…but he threw some good splits, some really good curveballs, cutter was good.  I thought everything he did was exactly what I think he wanted and what we wanted from him.”"

More of that out of Nathan Eovaldi could make for a very interesting season for the Boston Red Sox if they get a healthy and strong Eduardo Rodriguez back and either Martin Perez or Ryan Weber (if not both) step up and become solid pitchers in the rotation.