Boston Red Sox: Nathan Eovaldi spins the nasty in eliminating Yankees

The Boston Red Sox are on to the American League Divisional Series and it couldn’t have been done in a better way than nasty baby.

Nice with the bats and nasty on the mound as that man known as “Nasty Nate” got a bit of sweet revenge on the New York Yankees in Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory in the American League Wild Card showdown.

Going up against Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, the Red Sox righty has to be the October version of Nathan Eovaldi and that he was as he shut down Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and that Yankees lineup tossing 5 1/3 innings, allowing just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts against no walks.

The command was there, the consistency was there and Eovadi had that slider working on a night the team obviously needed it.

Boston Red Sox righty Nathan Eovaldi had his nasty boy hat on

In firing just 71 pitches, Eovaldi looked like he could’ve gone deeper in the game, but things worked out for Red Sox manager Alex Cora in his decision to pull the righty in the sixth inning when he got in a little bit of trouble.  But, overall, the Eovaldi on the mound Tuesday night looked a lot like that 2018 postseason pitcher who turned it on during the World Series run.

"“Nate was great,” Cora said following the game, via MLB.com. “When I went to the mound, he gave me this look, like, ‘What are you doing?’ It’s a tough game to manage, of course. If it’s a five-game or seven-game series, we’ll keep him there. But the way our bullpen was and the way we feel about them, I felt like that was the time.”"

Most of Red Sox Nation gave Cora that look with the Boston Red Sox clinging to slim 3-1 lead against a potent offense like the Yankees at that moment in the game.  But it did work out and the Boston bats made sure Eovadi got rewarded for his efforts.  With Xander Bogaerts setting the tone with a two-run blast earlier in the game, the Sox chased Cole out of the game on a solo blast by another man made for October, Kyle Schwarber.

The Red Sox offense added three more runs to secure the victory for Eovaldi, who didn’t want to come out of the game when he did but understood Cora’s decision.

"“It’s definitely frustrating, but obviously I understand the situation and everything,” Eovaldi said. “Third time through the lineup, it’s tough. Batters seeing you for the third time, they have a better understanding of what you’re going to do and a better idea of how you’re going to attack them. I get it.”"

In the postseason, Nathan Eovaldi now has a very impressive and stingy 1.63 ERA in seven appearances.  A lot of that has come against the Yankees and the team is hoping there is more magic to come as they prepare to play the underdog role against the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS.

It’s a run time in Boston and like the regular season, expect an up-and-down ride during this playoff run as the team will enter the series with some question marks. But this is a game-to-game decision time for Cora, who has had success.  It all worked out with his decision to pull Eovaldi on Tuesday night.