Boston's Rodriguez seeks success vs. White Sox
BOSTON -- Eduardo Rodriguez is still looking for his first win since returning from the disabled list as he pitches for the Boston Red Sox against the Chicago White Sox in the second contest of the four-game series at Fenway Park on Friday night.
The left-hander, still rebounding from his latest knee injury, is 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA in three starts since his return. He has walked nine, struck out 19 and yielded 19 hits in 14 2/3 innings.
In his last start against the Kansas City Royals earlier on this homestand, Rodriguez struggled through four innings, throwing 107 pitches and getting a no-decision in a game Boston wound up winning 9-8.
"Lot of pitches. Lot of foul balls. Deep counts," Red Sox manager John Farrell said before Thursday night's series opener, won by the Red Sox 9-5. "This is a very aggressive fastball-hitting team. Where a change of speeds might have a little bit more of an effect ... as Eddy does, he gets a lot of swing and miss up. They fouled off a lot of those pitches; they took some pitches.
"The pitch count climbed on him. His night was cut short, but he gave us everything he had."
Rodriguez, 4-3 with a 4.16 ERA this season, is 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA in five Fenway starts in 2017, with the Red Sox going 4-1 in those games.
Rodriguez and fellow left-hander Carlos Rodon of Chicago have faced their Friday night opponent only once in their young careers. Rodon lost while Rodriguez received a no-decision.
Rodon, who didn't start his season until June 28 because of left biceps tendinitis, is 1-4 with a 5.23 ERA but has 20 strikeouts over his last two starts. He is 19-20 in his career.
Rodon did some serious bullpen work between starts before going 6 2/3 innings Sunday, allowing one run on six hits and striking out nine against Cleveland.
"Bullpen days for starters are big," he said. "It's a day we work, and it's real concentrated work.
"What you try to do is build on that and bring it into the game. So (pitching coach Don Cooper), (bullpen coach Curt Hasler) and I figured some stuff out and built off of it."
Now, he has to go to the mound in a difficult ballpark -- against a team that appears to have finally caught fire with their bats after the lineup infusion of Eduardo Nunez and Rafael Devers.
The Red Sox, who lead the American League East by two games over the New York Yankees, have 27 runs on 43 hits during a three-game winning streak. They are averaging 7.8 runs and 13 hits in their last five games, going 4-1.
"We are swinging the bats well and have to continue to throw the ball well," Boston pitcher Rick Porcello said. "That's the recipe right there. If we do that, we'll win a lot of games. We need to do that for the next two months."
The rebuilding White Sox have lost 20 of their last 24. In a 9-5 loss to Boston on Thursday, they spotted the Red Sox leads of 4-0 and 7-2 but got as close as 7-5 on the first home run of Nicky Delmonico's career.
"Our guys don't quit. They have been this way all season," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said after Thursday's game.
