Eduardo Rodriguez wants to go for a ride in the Boston Red Sox’s home run cart once he collects his first Major League Baseball hit.
He has a chance to do as much this weekend when the Red Sox travel to Philadelphia to take on the Phillies, but there isn’t too much confidence Rodriguez will be able to do so.
“Not at all,” Alex Cora said on Zoom after being asked how confident he was in his pitcher getting a hit Sunday off Zack Wheeler.
The Red Sox manager also noted that the crew of probable starting pitchers all took batting practice Wednesday and looked “absolutely awful.”
Cora, who doesn’t let his players wear earrings during games, will make an exception for Rodriguez in hopes it will bring him a little luck.
“I don’t let them wear earrings,” Cora said. “That’s just one of the rules that I have. But for this game, he can actually wear one when he hits. It’s a cross. It is similar to Barry (Bonds’). So I’m going to give him a chance to do that to see if he can get a hit. But the chances are very slim.”
Xander Bogaerts also expressed the same sentiment as his skipper, saying he’d give Rodriguez about a “one percent” chance to get a hit.
“Eh, looking a little dark there, you know?,” he said. “… I would be really surprised. Eddie’s bat speed is not too fast.”
Well, only time will tell if Rodriguez can prove his teammates wrong and snap his 0-for-20 drought.
But first, the Red Sox wrap up their series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Thursday night.
