Eduardo Rodriguez took the ball for the third time as a member of the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday, and for a third time, he did not disappoint.
While an absence of run support robbed Rodriguez of a third consecutive win, the 22-year-old left-hander again proved why he belongs in a major league rotation with six more scoreless innings in an eventual 1-0 loss to the team he began his career with, the Baltimore Orioles.
Through 20 1/3 innings since his first big league call-up, Rodriguez has allowed just one run.
Unlike his first two starts, however, moments of cruise control were few and far between Tuesday night.
Rodriguez needed 27 pitches to get through the first inning, during which he allowed a leadoff single and walked a batter. Three Orioles batters in all received free passes from Rodriguez, and another took first base after being plunked by a fifth-inning fastball.
What was impressive was the way the young southpaw responded to these setbacks. Only once did Rodriguez allow consecutive batters to reach base, and each of his first four strikeouts followed either a hit or a walk.
“I just tried to put my fastball in the strike zone,” he told reporters after the game.” I feel like in the first two innings, I was just going too quickly to home plate. But after that, (I was able to) get it under control again.”
Rodriguez found another gear as his outing wound down, blowing mid-90s fastballs past three of the final six batters he faced to finish with seven K’s on the night — the exact number he’s now recorded in each of his three starts.
Of those seven punchouts, six came against Baltimore’s Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 hitters, who went a combined 1-for-11 against Rodriguez in the ballgame.
“We’ve had some lengthy innings in which he’s been on the mound, and what he does so well is he’s able to come back out and establish strike one, even to the first hitter of the inning,” manager John Farrell told reporters. “He’s done a great job of remaining focused pitch to pitch in the three starts he’s made for us, and through three starts, we’re looking at a pretty special young man.”
A pretty special young man that the Orioles let get away last season, shipping him to the Red Sox at the trade deadline for reliever Andrew Miller in a desperate, win-now move. Tuesday gave Rodriguez the chance to show his former franchise just how big of a mistake that trade was — even if he wasn’t willing to come out and say it.
“I don’t know,” Rodriguez told reporters. “I just want to keep going. … Now, I’m with the Boston Red Sox, so I just want to stay here and do what I can do for the team.”
So far, he’s doing just fine in that department.
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@leahysean
