Red Sox: Bullpen fall isn’t to blame for Eduardo Rodriguez’ poor start
By Sean Penney
In the wake of his worst start of the season, Boston Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez isn’t using his tumble in the bullpen during warm-ups as an excuse.
Hours before the Boston Red Sox fell to the Baltimore Orioles last night, starter Eduardo Rodriguez had a fall of his own.
While warming up in the bullpen before the game, Rodriguez had trouble finding his footing on the mound after unwinding a pitch and stumbled to the ground. The lefty popped back up looking no worse for wear, yet the tumble understandably raised some concern in the Red Sox clubhouse.
Rodriguez tweaked his knee when he slipped on a wet mound during winter league ball back in December, an incident not unlike what occurred last night. He also had his 2016 season derailed by a seemingly minor knee injury in spring training that ended up costing him nearly two months.
E-Rod shook off the fall and managed to make his scheduled start, only to be shelled by an unrelenting Orioles lineup. Rodriguez delivered his worst start of the season, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings.
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Baltimore has a powerful lineup that led the majors in home runs last season. Still, even against their heavy hitters we wouldn’t have expected E-Rod to give up four homers in one start. That’s one fewer home run than he had allowed in his previous nine starts this season. He’s also been fairly successful against the team that once traded him to the Red Sox organization. Prior to last night, Rodriguez owned a 3.45 ERA and had only given up three home runs in eight career starts against the Orioles.
The seven-run shellacking was uncharacteristic for a multitude of reasons, which leaves us to wonder if his slip in the bullpen had any effect on his performance.
According to Rodriguez, the answer is no. Speaking to reporters after the game, Rodriguez denied feeling any discomfort on the mound. He brushed off his fall in the bullpen as no big deal.
"“I don’t know if I can tell you. I just threw a pitch and my foot got in a bad position and I went down. But nothing crazy,” he said, adding, “I just landed a bit different, and that’s it.”"
Perhaps he’s right about the fall having no correlation to his performance, yet that’s hard to believe given how well he’s pitched this year. That’s not to suggest that E-Rod is hiding an injury. There are other ways the incident could have affected him.
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Knowing his own injury history, concern over his knee that he’s hurt before in similar fashion could have been a distraction. It also could be as simple as the bullpen slip interrupting his regular routine. Baseball players are creatures of habit, so even a minor infringement on their routine could potentially have thrown him off his game.
Or it could be a matter of Rodriguez simply not having it last night against a team capable of making him pay for his mistakes. He was still getting hitters to swing and miss, generating six strikeouts, and he didn’t allow a walk. It’s not as if his pitches were all over the place. He missed his location on a few pitches that the Orioles hammered into the seats. It can happen to even the best of pitchers on occasion.
The Red Sox don’t seem overly concerned about Rodriguez’ health, so it appears the only thing he hurt in his fall was his pride.
Unless we hear an update from the team about a potential injury that they weren’t aware of as of last night, we can chalk up this meltdown to one rough night and expect E-Rod to bounce back in his next outing.