Eovaldi is now up to 13 quality starts on the season -- five of which have come over his last seven outings -- and he sports a 1.76 ERA, 0.97 WHIP and 120:21 K:BB across 123 innings this season. His next start is lined up for next weekend at home against the Guardians.

Entering Monday’s matchup with the Diamondbacks at Globe Life Field, Eovaldi had six straight winning decisions and had not shouldered a loss since May 22. It was easy to see why. Since he came off the injured list on June 27, Eovaldi had allowed five earned runs in 41 2/3 innings across seven starts. That was a 1.08 ERA in that time frame.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/mlb/rangers as Rangers Ace Nathan Eovaldi Having One of Best Starts to a Season in MLB History. One of the biggest moves that the Texas Rangers made during the MLB offseason was retaining starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi.

Texas Rangers hurler Nathan Eovaldi is speaking out about a rough outing he had against the Arizona Diamondbacks Monday.

Through a starter’s first 19 outings of a season, Eovaldi’s 1.38 ERA is the fifth-lowest ever, trailing only Bob Gibson (1.06, 1968), Luis Tiant (1.27, 1968), Zack Greinke (1.30, 2015), and Vida Blue (1.37, 1971).

One of baseball’s best pitchers this season isn’t even listed among the league leaders, and was left off the American League All-Star team.

Eovaldi has risen into Cy Young contention and has a chance to become the first Texas Rangers pitcher to win the award.