Eduardo Rodriguez is having his best season for the Red Sox in what’s been an otherwise inconsistent year for Boston.
The southpaw turned in yet another solid outing Monday night, allowing just one earned run over six innings of work. Rodriguez walked one and struck out nine, but it unfortunately wasn’t enough as the Red Sox fell to the New York Yankees 5-0 at Fenway Park.
Rodriguez may have been tagged with the loss, but his team-leading 17 wins and 3.73 are impressive nonetheless, especially in a rotation that has included Chris Sale, David Price and Rick Porcello.
Manager Alex Cora all season has harped on his team’s consistency at being inconsistent, which the 76-68 record shows when just a year ago Boston secured its 94th win of 2018.
But despite where the team stands as of Sept. 9, Cora took a moment to show his pitcher some much-deserved recognition.
“That’s a great outing right there,” he said on NESN’s Red Sox postgame coverage. “We’ve been talking about him not being able to go deep into the games coming into the season. … His stuff was good, even with 115 (pitches) or whatever it was. You saw it, just one pitch, 2-0 fastball and (Austin) Romine … hits it out of the ballpark. He was amazing … he made some good pitches, was able to elevate the fastball. This guy, he’s been very consistent for us and you see him growing each outing.”
The left-hander became the first Red Sox pitcher to make at least 30 starts in a season at 26 years old or younger since Jon Lester made 32 appearances in 2010.
Rodriguez indeed has shown tremendous growth this season when just a year ago he struggled with his pitch count and pitching deep into games. And the Red Sox certainly will need him to be at his best as they fight for the second wild-card spot.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Red Sox-Yankees game:
— A Red Sox legend threw out the first pitch prior to the game.
David Ortiz made his first public appearance since being shot June 9 in his native Dominican Republic. He was warmly welcomed by the Fenway Faithful and delivered a heartfelt speech after tossing the pitch to old friend and former teammate Jason Varitek.
“It’s always good to see the big man,” Cora said. “… I think for the fans to see him is awesome. … David is kind of like a rockstar baseball player.”
— New York dominated Boston all season, going 14-5 in 19 games against its rival in 2019.
“.They’ve been very good all season, very consistent,” Cora said. “… They’re doing everything right right now. They’re playing well, they’re playing good baseball.”
— It’s been quite the 24 hours for the Red Sox after the team parted ways with president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski after Sunday’s loss. He spent the last four seasons with the club.
“It’s tough, but we understand,” Cora said. ” … But at least from seven until 10:30 you go out there, you do your best and you block everything out.”
— Monday marked the fifth time Boston was held scoreless this season and the first time at Fenway since Sept. 14, 2018 against the New York Mets.
