Eovaldi pitches 5 scoreless innings as Rangers beat Braves 8-3

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched three-hit ball over five scoreless innings in his first start since the All-Star break and the Texas Rangers beat the Atlanta Braves 8-3 on Friday night.

Eovaldi (8-3) threw 53 of his 86 pitches for strikes as Texas won its fourth straight and handed Atlanta a third straight loss. He struck out seven but walked a season-high four.

It was also Eovaldi’s first start since the Rangers paid him a $100,000 All-Star Game bonus even though the 35-year-old wasn’t selected despite a 7-3 record and a 1.58 ERA. He missed his first start after the break — a matchup with AL All-Star starter Tarik Skubal and the Tigers — with back tightness.

Sam Haggerty singled leading off the first against Joey Wentz (2-2) before stealing his 10th base and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Marcus Semien for a 1-0 lead.

Jonah Heim hit his ninth home run — a two-out shot in the second for a 2-0 lead. Wyatt Langford had a two-out RBI double in the fourth and Sam Haggerty doubled in a run in the fifth for a 4-0 advantage. Three singles, two walks, a hit batter and a sac fly led to four runs in the eighth.

Michael Harris II hit his eighth home run — a leadoff shot off Jacob Latz in the seventh to cut it to 4-1.

Wentz allowed four runs in 4 1/3 innings.

Corey Seager went 0 for 3 but walked twice to extend his on-base streak to 25 games for the Rangers.

Austin Riley went 0 for 4 in his first game for Atlanta since suffering an abdominal strain on July 11.