Rangers shut out Nationals 6-0. Eovaldi leaves start with groin injury

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched 5 1/3 shutout innings before leaving with groin tightness, Ezequiel Duran’s two-out double was the first of three consecutive RBI hits in the second inning and the Texas Rangers beat the Washington Nationals 6-0 on Thursday.

Eovaldi (2-2) limited the Nationals to two hits and two walks while throwing 92 pitches — 13 short of his season high. He struck out eight for the fourth time this year, his season high. He won for the first time since April 3 and for the first time in four home starts this year.

Jacob Latz, David Robertson and Jonathan Hernández finished off the four-hit shutout, Texas’ second this season.

The Rangers (17-15) won a second straight series, which the defending World Series champions had not done since winning the first two series of the season.

The Nationals (15-16) failed to move above .500 for the first time since July 1, 2021. Arriving in Texas after scoring 33 runs in a four-game sweep at Miami, the Nats scored two runs in three games.

Eovaldi said he felt the injury throwing a 94 mph fastball for strike one to Luis Garcia Jr. with one on in the sixth. He’ll get an MRI on Friday.

“Just play it safe,” Eovaldi said.

“He may need some rest,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “We’ll take care of him and do what’s right.”

Duran’s double was his second RBI of the season, first since opening day. He’d sat out the previous three games after going 6 for 38, dropping his batting average from a season-high .429 to .200.

Evan Carter and Marcus Semien followed with RBI singles off rookie Mitchell Parker (2-1), making his fourth major league start.

The Rangers added three runs in the eighth inning. Two scored on Travis Jankowski’s single. Jankowski replaced Duran at DH in the sixth inning.

Parker gave up three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings while walking two and striking out five. He’d allowed three total runs in his previous three starts after being recalled from Triple-A Rochester on April 15 when Josiah Gray was placed on the injured list.

The two runs in a three-game series matched the Nats’ franchise low, done three previous times.

“If you think hitting’s easy, you’re really mistaken about this game,” Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. “We’ve just got to keep going, keep grinding.”

Texas’ Josh Smith extended his on-base streak to a career-best 19 games with a second-inning walk.

Corey Seager, MVP of the Rangers’ World Series victory last fall, continued to struggle at the plate. Seager went 0 for 4 and is 3 for 41 over his past 11 games, dropping his batting average from .301 to .219.

UP NEXT

Nationals left-hander Patrick Corbin (0-3, 6.82 ERA) will face Toronto left-hander Yusei Kikuchi (2-2, 2.94) on Friday to begin a five-game homestand.

Rangers right-hander Michael Lorenzen (2-1, 4.24) will pitch on Friday against Kansas City right-hander Brady Singer (2-1, 2.62) to start a 10-game road trip, including a scheduled doubleheader at Oakland next Wednesday.

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Texas Rangers' Josh Smith (8) and Jonah Heim (28) celebrate with Evan Carter, center, after scoring on an Travis Jankowski single in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Josh Smith connects for a double in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers relief pitcher David Robertson throws to the Washington Nationals in the eighth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Corey Seager grounds out to third in the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. is safe with a double under the attempted tag by Texas Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien as umpire Ryan Blakney signals safe in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals pitching coach Jim Hickey (48) pays a mound visit to starting pitcher Mitchell Parker, Ildemaro Vargas (14) and catcher Keibert Ruiz, center rear, in the second inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Washington Nationals starting pitcher Mitchell Parker throws to the Texas Rangers in the first inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Marcus Semien follows through on a run-scoring single as Washington Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz and umpire Jim Wolf, right, look on during the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi throws to the Washington Nationals in the second inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi (17) walks off the field with pitching coach Mike Maddux, left, and head athletic trainer Matt Lucero, center, during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Eovaldi left the game with an unknown injury. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Nathan Eovaldi, left, stands on the mound with catcher Jonah Heim as they wait on head athletic trainer Matt Lucero during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Eovaldi left the game with an unknown injury. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

Texas Rangers' Nathan Eovaldi tosses the rosin bag as he walks behind the mound before throwing to Washington Nationals' Luis Garcia Jr. in the sixth inning of a baseball game in Arlington, Texas, Thursday, May 2, 2024. Eovaldi left the game with an unknown injury in the inning. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

ROUEN, France (AP) — French police shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who is suspected of having set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen early on Friday, the latest apparent act in a storm of antisemitism roiling France amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Officers were alerted early Friday morning that smoke was rising from the synagogue and came face to face with the man when they got there, the national police information service said. It said the man surged toward officers with a knife and a metal bar. An officer opened fire and fatally wounded the man, police said. Police said they had not yet identified the man.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on the social media site X that the armed individual was “clearly wanting to set fire to the city’s synagogue.”

He congratulated officers for “their reactivity and their courage.”

Tensions and anger have grown in France over the Israel-Hamas war. Antisemitic acts have surged in the country, which has the largest Jewish and Muslim populations in western Europe.

Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol said the man is thought to have climbed onto a trash container and thrown “a sort of Molotov cocktail” inside the synagogue, starting a fire and causing “significant damage.”

“When the Jewish community is attacked, it's an attack on the national community, an attack on France, an attack on all French citizens," he said.

“It’s a fright for the whole nation,” he added.

Frédéric Desguerre, a regional police union official, told broadcaster BFM-TV that the man hurled the metal bar he was carrying at the officers and pulled out a long kitchen knife from one of his sleeves.

“He moved toward them with a determined air, quite violent,” he said.

Desguerre, of the Unité police union, said the officer fired five shots after warning the man to stop moving.

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said this month that the sharp spike in antisemitic acts in France that followed the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel has continued into this year.

Authorities registered 366 antisemitic acts in the first three months of 2024, a 300% increase over the same period last year, Attal said. More than 1,200 antisemitic acts were reported in the last three months of 2023 — which was three times more than in the whole of 2022, he said.

“We are witnessing an explosion of hatred,” he said.

Leicester reported from Paris.

French policemen stand the synagogue in Rouen, France, Friday, May 17, 2024. French police have shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who is suspected of having set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen. (AP Photo/Oleg Cetinic)

A police car is parked in front of the synagogue in Rouen, France, Friday, May 17, 2024. French police have shot and killed a man armed with a knife and a metal bar who is suspected of having set fire to a synagogue in the Normandy city of Rouen. (AP Photo/Oleg Cetinic)