Nathan Eovaldi threw seven scoreless innings, and Dustin Harris hit a home run and a two-run double in his second MLB game, leading the Texas Rangers to an 8-0 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Nathaniel Lowe also homered, and Josh Smith contributed two RBIs for the Rangers, who were out of playoff contention since September 20. This victory marked their first sweep of a three-game series since late August when they faced the Chicago White Sox.
The Rangers ended the season with a record of 78-84, a drop from last year’s 90-72, which took them to their first World Series title.
“We have work to do,” said Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, a two-time World Series champion with the San Francisco Giants. “It’s not a lot of fun watching the celebrations of other teams. We have to come in ready to go next spring.
We will make some adjustments and have a lot of work to do, not just on one thing but all facets of the game.”
Angels rookie starter Jack Kochanowicz (2-6) allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings during his 11th career start, after debuting on July 11. The Angels finished with a franchise record of 63-99, down from 73-89 last season.
“We’ve already planned on what we need to do and then we’ll go to work,” said Angels manager Ron Washington. “It didn’t turn out the way we wanted to, losing 99 games.
But there was a lot of fun and growth that happened. Some guys realized they can and some guys realized they have a long way to go. But there’s going to be some progress moving forward into ’25, I have no doubt about it.”
Texas scored first when Lowe hit a leadoff double in the fourth, and Jonah Heim followed with a single to bring him home.
Harris hit a two-run double in the seventh inning, his first career hit, giving the Rangers a 3-0 lead.
The Angels almost scored in the seventh, but Matt Thaiss was thrown out at home by Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford while trying to score from second on a single by Michael Stefanic.
In the eighth inning, Langford started with a single, and then Nathaniel Lowe hit his 16th home run of the season to right field, extending the lead to 5-0. Lowe had five hits and five RBIs in the last two games of the season.
Harris hit his first career home run in the ninth inning off Roansy Contreras, just clearing the right field wall. Josh Smith later added a two-run double off Contreras.
“That’s the moment I have been training for my whole life and it was pretty surreal; it was fun,” Harris said about the home run.
Eovaldi (12-8) allowed four hits in seven innings, with one walk and five strikeouts. Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts, and David Robertson closed out the game in the ninth, marking Texas’s 12th shutout of the season.
Like Andrew Heaney, who pitched for the Rangers on Saturday, Eovaldi’s contract is set to expire, and he may have played his last game with the team.
“I’ve been in this situation before and we all understand how the business side of things work,” Eovaldi said, praising president of baseball operations Chris Young.
“We were able to win a World Series together and I think that’s the main thing that it always comes down to. We’ll always be in touch. We’ll always be rooting for one another.”
The Angels had a crowd of 35,145 for the season finale, finishing the year with a total attendance of 2,577,597, slightly lower than last year’s 2,640,575.
