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The 5 Boston Red Sox unsung heroes of 2018

By Tarringo Basile-vaughan

LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: The Boston Red Sox celebrate their 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five to win the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - OCTOBER 28: The Boston Red Sox celebrate their 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game Five to win the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 28, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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Boston Red Sox
Boston Red Sox Eduardo Rodriguez (Photo by Gary A. Vasquez – Pool/Getty Images) /

4.  Eduardo Rodriguez

The young lefty didn’t have a great postseason with the Boston Red Sox, but he did pitch well for a stretch of the regular season to keep the team at the top of the AL East.

Despite a stint on the DL, Eduardo Rodriguez posted a 13-5 record with a 3.82 ERA.  With 146 strikeouts in 129.2 innings pitched, Rodriguez did display his power and the type of pitcher he could be.

While he did frustrate Red Sox manager Alex Cora a bit with his inability to pitch past five innings consistently, he was solid during a particular stretch of starts when the team was without Chris Sale and Drew Pomeranz completely fell off the radar.

In fact, after spending more time on DL following a sprained ankle in early July, Eduardo Rodriguez came back strong again by recording 12 strikeouts in an early September victory against the Chicago White Sox.  Again, he pitched just 5 2/3 innings, but he showed that he is a capable front of the pitching rotation starter.

If it wasn’t for the emergence of Nathan Eovaldi, Rodriguez may have been thrown into the fire a bit more in the postseason.  Perhaps his overall performance during the regular season will fuel him into a breakout season in 2019.

As far as the 2018 regular season, Eduardo Rodriguez was one of the pitchers who helped the team stay afloat through injuries to the starting rotation.

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