ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched seven scoreless innings, Dustin Harris had a homer and two-run double in his second MLB game and the defending champion Texas Rangers closed out their season with an 8-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday.
Nathaniel Lowe also homered and Josh Smith drove in two runs for the Rangers, who were eliminated from postseason contention Sept. 20. Texas finished the season with its first sweep of a three-game series since late August, against the Chicago White Sox.
The Rangers finished 78-84, one season after going 90-72 and charging through the postseason on the way to their first World Series title in franchise history.
“We have work to do,” said Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, who twice won a World Series with the San Francisco Giants, failed to repeat then won a title the following season. “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 and not just on one thing but all facets of the game.”
Angels rookie starter Jack Kochanowicz (2-6) gave up three runs on six hits over seven innings in the 11th start of his career after making his big league debut July 11. The Angels finished with the most losses in franchise history at 63-99 after going 73-89 last season.
“We’ve already planned on what we need to do and then we’ll go to work,” Angels manager Ron Washington said. “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 to center in the fourth and Jonah Heim knocked him in one batter later with a single to left.
Harris delivered a two-run double in the seventh inning to right field on his first career hit for a 3-0 lead.
The Angels nearly broke through in the seventh, but Matt Thaiss was thrown out at home by Rangers left fielder Wyatt Langford. Thaiss was trying to score from second on a single by Michael Stefanic.
In the eighth inning, Langford led off with a single before Lowe homered to right, his 16th of the season, for a 5-0 advantage. Lowe had five hits and five RBIs over the last two games of the season.
Harris’ first career home run, in the ninth inning off Roansy Contreras, just cleared the wall in right field. Smith added a two-run double later in the inning off Contreras.
“That’s the moment I have been training for my whole life and it was pretty surreal; it was fun,” Harris said of the homer.
Eovaldi (12-8) gave up four hits over seven innings, with a walk and five strikeouts. Jose Leclerc pitched a scoreless eighth inning with two strikeouts, and David Robertson handled the ninth inning, closing out the 12th shutout of the season for Texas.
Like Andrew Heaney, who started for the Rangers on Saturday, Eovaldi’s contract is set to expire and he might have pitched his last game in a Texas uniform.
“I’ve been in this situation before and we all understand how the business side of things work,” Eovaldi said, complimenting the vision of 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 drew a crowd of 35,145 for the season finale and finished the season at 2,577,597, slightly down from their total attendance of 2,640,575 in 2023.
UP NEXT
Rangers: Spring training opener, Feb. 21 vs. Royals at Surprise, Arizona.
Angels: Spring training opener, Feb. 22 vs. Mariners at Tempe, Arizona.
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