Red Sox lefty Eduardo Rodriguez gets 19th win in ugly clash with Texas

The season may be over for the Boston Red Sox, but lefty ace Eduardo Rodriguez is still working towards an all-time career year on the mound.

Last night wasn’t the most enjoyable game to watch but the Red Sox pulled out the win which is all that matters. Boston got off to a hot start scoring four runs in the first but Eduardo Rodriguez would soon give those runs right back to the Rangers. It wasn’t a performance of the level we’ve become accustomed to from E-Rod this season but he showed his grit in what would be a long night.

This season was lost long ago but there have been some bright spots along the way. We’ve seen Rafael Devers grow into a high-level third baseman, Xander Bogaerts has joined the elite at the shortstop position, and Christian Vazquez has morphed into Babe Ruth.

Lastly, we’ve seen Rodriguez step up in a year where the starting rotation has been beyond a disappointment. All four men played big roles in the Sox walking away with a victory but it didn’t come easy.

E-Rod’s first inning was a glimpse into how his night would go as he was having some serious trouble locating his pitches. His changeup was missing the mark and led to some walks that would come back to hurt Boston early.

NESN commentator and former Red Sox catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia pointed it out that it seemed as if Rodriguez was trying to stay in specific areas of the strike zone which hindered his ability to move around the plate. He wasn’t wrong.

Though Rodriguez would finish with just three walks on the night, they came at times when the Rangers were able to capitalize on them. He would also fan six batters which is more like the pitcher we’re familiar with.

The big head-scratcher came on the fact that he gave up 11 hits, something he doesn’t do very often. In fact, he hasn’t allowed that many hits in a single game at any point this season, the closest was 10 hits to the Indian on August 12th.

Eduardo tends to get the most love from the Red Sox offense and last night wasn’t a change form that whatsoever. Four runs in the first inning should put the game comfortably in hand, but everyone has the occasional off-night. Luckily for E-Rod, the Boston bats didn’t cool down at all and kept tacking on the runs. The southpaw would only go five innings but it was enough to secure him his 19th win of the year.

Pitcher win totals tend to be a stat that gets scoffed at due to it being an inconsistent science. We’ve seen starters go deep and just to have a reliever that worked an inning or less get the win.

Hell, that happened to Eduardo just a few starts ago! It’s hard to deny a starter getting to 20 wins not being cool though. It’s a big accomplishment and if Eduardo does get win number 20 he’d be the first Red Sox lefty to do-so since Mel Parnell 66 years ago.

Eduardo didn’t shy away from the fact that he wasn’t his electric self last night and gave full credit to his teammates for their fight.

"“It’s not even my win,” Rodriguez said. “That win is for the team, the lineup, everything they do. They are up there grinding to score more runs. The ones I had before were mine, but this one wasn’t mine. I was part of the team but everything they did there to get a win for me was really special. Just sitting there, everybody pitching up there, hitting the ball, making plays and everything, that was special to watch.”"