During a tough year all around for the Red Sox, Eduardo Rodriguez has emerged as the leading man for this current rotation.
In what has been a pretty disastrous campaign, there’ve been plenty of things gone wrong for the Red Sox – pitching-wise, mostly. With the obvious gaps in the Boston bullpen, the rotation has also struggled massively.
Now losing Chris Sale due to season-ending shoulder problems, the Red Sox pitching situation has turned gloomier than ever. One shining light for the Sox has been Eduardo Rodriguez, who’s been able to perform extremely well for the most part.
After pitching a gem on Friday night in San Diego, there’s been plenty of talk about E-Rod, and him being the ace of this Red Sox staff. Obviously, due to Sale’s lingering injuries, his ability to lead this rotation wasn’t able to happen. However, Rodriguez has really stepped up, especially recently, and has been exactly what the Sox so very need at this point of the regular season.
Over seven innings, against the Padres, Rodriguez allowed just five hits and one walk. His start prior to this saw him go seven and a third, allowing just the four hits on this occasion – giving this weakened Sox rotation a real boost at a time of the year when every single outing is a must-win.
During the start of the month, E-Rod had numerous outings where he gave up several runs, but it wasn’t catastrophic. Also, as a pitcher who’s been known to only last a handful of innings, at most, on many occasions over the last couple of years, the last time where he didn’t go at least five was way back in April. He’s been huge for this Sox this year.
E-Rod’s had plenty of run support in a lot of his starts, which has been very helpful in getting his record to where it is today – 15-5. But, he’s done plenty of the work himself. A 3.92 ERA sounds excellent compared to a lot of other ERA’s this Sox staff currently holds for this season. The lefty has also, already, broken his single-season strikeout record.
More from Red Sox News
- Bizarre trade deadline comes back to haunt Red Sox after Nathan Eovaldi departure
- Red Sox’ Moneyball-style offseason continues with Corey Kluber contract
- Rich Hill’s Red Sox departure puts him within striking distance of unique MLB record
- Red Sox offseason takes another nasty hit with Nathan Eovaldi departure
- Why Red Sox fans should be rooting for Carlos Correa’s Mets deal to go through
His tally currently sits at 155, which is five better than he went back in ’17. Obviously, he’s struggled with injury over the years, but his ability to go far into games has allowed him to outpitch his past seasons by a ton, already, and it’s still August. He’s pitched 160.2 innings, so far, which is over 23 innings more than he’s ever pitched in a single major league season before.
Yes, he’s been sidelined, and, yes, he’s pitched in the minors, however, his progress and his ability to be able to pitch big inning numbers in the majors is important. E-Rod is now 26-years-old and is at the age where he needs to be consistent in the bigs, especially if he’s going to be a star pitcher for the long haul. And this is exactly what he’s been able to showcase on many occasions this year.
With just five weeks left in this major league season, E-Rod and the Sox will have one goal, the same goal, on each and every night – to win the ballgame. Sitting six games behind in the wildcard, the Sox have a month to put this season right and give themselves a shot at making the postseason. Boston is still the defending World Series champion, so hopefully, they can end this season like champions and go out on a high.