BOSTON — Eduardo Rodriguez wasn’t the problem.
Rodriguez suffered his first loss as a major leaguer and allowed nine earned runs over 4 2/3 innings Sunday afternoon in the Boston Red Sox’s 13-5 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Clearly, he wasn’t good. But he also deserved better, as the Red Sox’s defense provided zero help behind the rookie.
“The way that team’s playing right now, everything’s falling their way,” Red Sox catcher Blake Swihart said of the Blue Jays, who tied a franchise record with their 11th consecutive win. “There were a bunch of bloop singles, a broken-bat single. During that (fourth inning), there was one ball that was hit hard, and that was (Ryan Goins’) home run. … (Rodriguez) was making his pitches. That’s just the way baseball is right now for those guys.”
The Blue Jays absolutely deserve credit. They’re rolling right now, particularly offensively. But the Red Sox helped them out on several occasions Sunday, especially in the fourth and fifth innings, in which the Jays scored 10 runs to take a commanding lead while knocking Rodriguez from the ballgame.
The fourth-inning drama began after Josh Donaldson, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion — three damn good hitters — produced three consecutive singles to grab a 1-0 advantage. Chris Colabello grounded to second base, where Dustin Pedroia looked to start a double play. The Red Sox recorded the out at second, but Encarnacion’s takeout slide prevented shortstop Xander Bogaerts from delivering a throw to first. Red Sox manager John Farrell argued that Encarnacion made no attempt to reach for second base, but umpire Jeff Kellogg saw the play differently and stuck to his guns.
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Russell Martin plated Bautista with a soft fly ball up the right field line. Alejandro De Aza took a strange route after a late break, marking the first of his two costly defensive miscues.
The sun victimized Pedroia moments later after a walk to Danny Valencia. Kevin Pillar’s popup dropped in right field as a result, allowing Colabello to score with Toronto’s third run.
“As much as we look upon Pedey in so many positive lights, he is human,” Farrell said.
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Goins made it 6-0 with a three-run homer into the Blue Jays’ bullpen. That’s on Rodriguez, obviously, but the sloppy defense definitely set the table for Toronto’s knockout blow.
“Early on in the inning, they did a good job of putting the bat on the ball, fighting off some tough pitches,” Farrell said. “They get a break on some balls that fall in, and then Goins with the three-run homer who had a big series here against us. I don’t know it was necessarily an overall lack of command from Eddie here today. He’s going up against a hot lineup right now, and like I said, they fought off some decent pitches until the big three-run home run.”
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Rodriguez ran into two-out trouble in the fifth inning behind more suspect defense by the Red Sox. Encarnacion, who walked with two down, scored from first when Colabello hit a popup that dropped between four fielders behind second base. De Aza inexplicably called for it despite Bogaerts being in the best position to make the catch.
Martin added to the Blue Jays’ outburst with a double into the left field corner that Hanley Ramirez misplayed. Valencia then greeted Steven Wright, who took over for Rodriguez, with a two-run homer.
David Ortiz launched a three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth as the Red Sox cut their deficit in half. It all was just noise, however, as the Jays scored three more runs in the seventh en route to another win.
Did Rodriguez pitch well enough to win Sunday? Probably not. But the brutal line score is more indicative of the Red Sox’s defensive lapses than the 22-year-old’s overall performance.
Thumbnail photo via Gregory Fisher/USA TODAY Sports Images
