Nathan Eovaldi may not have wound up in the win column during Game 3 of the World Series, but he certainly won over teammate Rick Porcello.
After Eovaldi pitched brilliantly across six innings of relief in extras, Porcello said he was captivated by his teammate's performance.
"After the game was over I started crying," Porcello said, according to Ronald Blum of Boston.com. "He literally gave everything he had on every single pitch."
Eovaldi, who was scheduled to start Game 4 for the Red Sox on Saturday, stepped up in a big way for Boston during Friday's contest.
With the bullpen taxed and the Red Sox already using eight pitchers (including starters Porcello and David Price), the 28-year-old Eovaldi entered the game in the 12th inning, threw 97 pitches, and nearly secured the win had it not been for an Ian Kinsler throwing error in the 13th.
In the loss, Eovaldi allowed just two hits (one being the game-winning home run to Max Muncy), while striking out five and walking one.
"I felt privileged to be able to watch what Nathan Eovaldi did," Porcello explained. "That was the most incredible pitching performance I’ve even seen."
The hard-throwing Eovaldi has been one of the postseason's feel-good stories.
After recovering from the second Tommy John surgery of his career during the offseason and coming to the Red Sox in a July trade, he's arguably been Boston's best pitcher during the playoffs.
In 22 1/3 innings across six appearances, Eovaldi owns a 1.61 ERA with 16 strikeouts.
