Saturday, July 13, 2019

E-Rod Shines Again, Lumber Emerges, Sox Dominate World Series Foes, 8-1

(Getty Images)
Eduardo Rodriguez is still just 26 years old. Boston got him in exchange for Andrew Miller many years ago—and now it appears that transaction is really beginning to pay off. Clearly, E-Rod has pitched extremely well—on and off—in the past, but this season he is starting to round into the guy who was the #1 pitching prospect in the Orioles organization. The lefty dominated last year's National League champions on Friday night—going seven solid innings, giving up just one run on five hits and striking out ten. He was backed up by three Red Sox home runs—Rafael Devers (#17), Christian Vazquez (#15), Xander Bogaerts (#18)—in the eventual 8-1 win. These three players have really defined the Boston offense in 2019—all three near or well over the .300 mark. The trio knocked in 6 of the 8 runs—with Mookie Betts and Brock Holt getting the other two. This was a key win—over (arguably) the best team in baseball. The victory allowed Boston to stay 9 games off the pace in the AL East and just 1 game out of the second Wild Card spot.