Eduardo Rodriguez took a big step forward Sunday afternoon.
The Boston Red Sox left-hander has been on the disabled list since July 15 with a right ankle sprain, but he threw his first bullpen Sunday and by all accounts it went well.
It was the southpaw’s first time throwing off the mound since sustaining the injury — which occurred after he tried to leap over a sliding Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays — and he got roughy 25-30 pitches out of the outing. Rafael Devers, who also is on the 10-day disabled list, stood in the box but did not swing.
Here’s a clip of Rodriguez throwing, via WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford.
Eduardo Rodriguez is throwing a baseball pic.twitter.com/VQ4WDULM6X
— Rob Bradford (@bradfo) August 5, 2018
After the bullpen session, Rodriguez gave a promising update.
“My ankle is really good, feels great,” Rodriguez said, via MassLive. “It feels fine throwing off the mound. So that was a test today.”
Both Rodriguez and Sox manager Alex Cora noted they did not know what the next step would be, but Cora was impressed with how the outing went.
“That was impressive, honestly. He threw a bullpen and that was good to see. I don’t know yet what’s the next step. But to see him on the mound … that was good news right there.”
Before getting hurt the 25-year-old was having a tremendous season, posting an 11-3 record with a 3.44 ERA. And with Drew Pomeranz still working through some inconsistencies and Steven Wright also on the DL for the foreseeable future, Boston certainly would benefit from getting a healthy E-Rod back.
