ARLINGTON -- This, more than anything, is what Nathan Eovaldi does best.

For all of the things the Alvin, Texas, native has given this club since he joined in 2023, from an electric postseason run to earning an All-Star bid, sometimes the thing he does best is simply get out of trouble.

That was the name of the game in Friday night’s 2-1 win over the Reds at Globe Life Field. Eovaldi tossed six innings, allowing three hits and five walks, but just one run scored. Even when he's not his sharpest, he minimizes the damage. That’s what aces do.

“He expected to be perfect,” Marcus Semien said. “He works to be perfect, but you’re not going to be perfect. But he did what he needed to do. Him being good is still really good for us.”

And good thing he did.

The Rangers and Reds were stuck in a 1-1 stalemate for much of Friday night as Eovaldi and Cincy starter Graham Ashcraft matched zero for zero after giving up a lone run each. But the Texas bullpen locked things down.

The Reds did not. Semien, who missed a home run by a few feet in the fifth inning, left no doubt in the eighth, launching a Statcast-projected 392-foot shot into the left-field stands to break the tie and propel the Rangers to victory.

It was Semien's first game-winning home run in the eighth inning or later since his three-run walk-off homer on Sept. 3, 2021, against the A's as a member of the Blue Jays.

“[Eovaldi] had good stuff,” said manager Bruce Bochy. “He worked around some walks, and gave us six solid innings there. We needed it, because we had a tough time against Ashcraft. He had good stuff. We had a pitchers' duel out there. When you miss the hits with runners in scoring position, you need the long ball. We got a couple of them, it was just enough.”

The run charged to Eovaldi was initially ruled unearned before the official scorer changed it to a steal of home by Elly De La Cruz, which came on a double steal and was the result of back-to-back walks in the first inning. In that respect, it’s been an uncharacteristic two starts for Eovaldi, who issued six walks in the Rangers' loss to the Braves last week, and five Friday.

Bochy said he feels like Eovaldi is just missing by small margins on the edges of the zone, but his stuff is in the right place.

Eovaldi agreed before noting that, Friday in particular, he felt like he was moving a little quickly down the mound as he tried to control the running game with a young and aggressive Reds team.

“I feel like where I wasn't locating my pitches, at times the cutter is kind of getting me in trouble,” he explained. “I'm not trusting it, you know? It's one of those pitches that I gotta throw for contact and I'm trying to throw it as this swing-and-miss pitch right now. I think that's one of the adjustments I'll make moving forward, but the splitter felt good, the curveball felt good and the fastball location, I felt like I was happy with.”

The outing was also Eovaldi’s third quality start of the season, even as he didn’t factor into the decision. His eight strikeouts also matched his season high, though he simultaneously became the first Rangers pitcher to record eight or more strikeouts and five or more walks in a start since Yu Darvish on June 17, 2014, at Oakland.

As the Rangers’ offense continues to scuffle, having gone 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position in Friday’s win, pitching will continue to be what keeps the club in games. That includes the bullpen, as the trio of Jacob Latz, José Leclerc and Kirby Yates dealt three perfect innings behind Eovaldi against the Reds.

“Evo is the ultimate competitor,” Semien said. “We know that. We saw the postseason and he brings the same intensity in the regular season. I think if you ask him, he's gonna say he wasn't sharp, this and that, but I think he had a great night. He struck out a ton of guys and that's a ballclub that swings pretty frequently. They're aggressive and he took advantage.

“I mean, if you put the offense we had last year together with the bullpen we have this year, we win every game. But once we get it together [offensively], we'll really get rolling.”