Boston Red Sox: Eduardo Rodriguez dominant against the Pinstripes
By Ben Porter
Eduardo Rodriguez had his best start of the season in last night’s series finale between the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
After dropping the first two games of the rivalry series, the Boston Red Sox turned to southpaw Eduardo Rodriguez to try and avoid being swept on the road. E-Rod was absolutely magnificent in his start, going 5 strong innings with just 1 hit, 3 walks, and 8 Ks.
Rodriguez was cruising through the game when his groove was rudely interrupted by Mother Nature. After a long rain delay, the tarps came off and Rodriguez took the mound once more. He hadn’t skipped a beat, posting yet another scoreless frame. Unfortunately, fatigue kicked in and Rodriguez’ night was finished after 5.
Until that point, however, Rodriguez was in complete control. The Yankees just couldn’t figure him out, and the Red Sox were able to build a lead that gave them a chance to win.
The Good
E-Rod showed masterful control last night. He worked the bottom third of the strike zone with virtuosity and he painted the corners all night. When he’s doing that, he’s almost unhittable.
Eduardo Rodriguez was throwing five different pitches, too: a two seam fastball, four seam fastball, cutter, slider, and changeup. In my opinion, his cutter was his nastiest pitch.
He turned to the cutter when he needed an out, and threw it most often on the inner third to right handed batters. He missed to his glove side a decent amount, but the deceptiveness of the cutter was enough to force a lot of whiffs.
https://twitter.com/PitchingNinja/status/994739846605361153
91 with Chris-Sale-slider-movement? Good luck with that, Tyler Austin.
What made his multi-pitch mix so effective, though, was his four seam fastball. Normally, Rodriguez sits in the low 90s, occasionally touching 94 or 95. Tonight, Eduardo Rodriguez was all the way up to 97. Yes, he was throwing as hard as Craig Kimbrel was (albeit not as consistently).
If E-Rod can keep his velocity as high as it was last night, he’ll be a pitcher opposing lineups don’t want to face.
The Bad
What was, and always has been Eduardo’s biggest problem was his pitch count. He threw over 20 pitches in the first inning and was well over 90 by the time he exited the game after the 5th.
This stemmed from his inability to get ahead on a lot of batters. Eduardo Rodriguez saw himself on the wrong side of a handful of 3-0 counts last night. That’s a problem for two reasons: 1) it eliminates most of his pitch arsenal and 2) it allows the batter a free take, which leads him to throw more pitches.
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On the positive side, a lot of Rodriguez’ 3-0 counts were the results of him being too fine with his location; missing just down or off the corner. He was putting the ball where he wanted to, but he could have been a little more aggressive in the zone early in counts.
Better to be safe than sorry against the 21st Century Murderer’s Row, I guess.
To Be Continued…?
With the human question mark that is David Price constantly nursing some sort of ailment, Eduardo Rodriguez is going to have to step up for the Boston Red Sox.
Last night, he did. If he can pitch with the same level of intensity and focus, he will be very reliable moving forward. He may not be an ace, but he’s a very good middle of the rotation guy.
What really sucks about last night’s game is that the bullpen came in and blew the lead. They were bailed out later by a clutch home run from J.D. Martinez, but it sure would have been nice to reward Rodriguez with a win.
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The Boston Red Sox are once again tied for first place in the AL East and the MLB, and it’s largely due to the amazing performance of Eduardo Rodriguez. Here’s to hoping the good E-Rod continues to show up. Go Sox!