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.

Texas Rangers right-hander Nathan Eovaldi is in the midst of a historically good season. He is not among the statistical best in baseball this season according to league leaderboards. That may change soon.

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.

Nathan Eovaldi impresses with another scoreless performance, strengthening his Cy Young candidacy with a 1.38 ERA.

When you hear the name Nathan Eovaldi, you probably think about electric postseason performances, insane velocity, and that guy teams want to see on the mound when things hit the fan.

We won and that’s all that matters,” Eovaldi said after allowing five runs, including three homers in five innings of work Monday.

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.