It was the closest thing to a perfect scenario for the Red Sox:
Eduardo Rodriguez on the mound against the lowly Baltimore Orioles.
Home runs by Rafael Devers and Andrew Benintendi helped Rodriguez win his fifth straight start Lions Game Jerseys , and Boston extended Baltimore’s losing streak to six games with a 6-4 victory Tuesday night.
Rodriguez
(8-1) gave up two runs and eight hits over 5 2/3 innings to increase a
career-best run of success that began on May 20 against the Orioles.
Rodriguez is 3-0 this season against Baltimore, the team that gave the
left-hander his first professional contract in 2010 and traded him to
Boston in 2014.
”Eduardo was good. The next step for him is to go deeper into the game and keep that pitch count down,” manager Alex Cora said.
It took Rodriguez 109 pitches to get 17 outs, but he left with a 6-2 lead.
”I’m
throwing the ball good and I want to keep on doing it,” Rodriguez said.
”The more wins you get, the closer you get to the playoffs.”
No
team in the big leagues has more wins than Boston (46). The Red Sox are
12-1 in Rodriguez’s starts, including 5-0 on the road, and 8-1 overall
against Baltimore.
Devers hit a two-run drive in the
second inning and Benintendi connected in the third for a 3-1 lead. A
bases-loaded walk and a run-scoring balk made it 5-2 in the fourth, and
Boston coasted from there.
Joey Rickard homered for the
Orioles, who own the worst record in the big leagues (19-47) and have
endured six losing streaks of at least five games.
Before
Mark Trumbo doubled in two runs in the ninth, Baltimore was 1 for 11
with runners in scoring position. And despite that hit, the Orioles are 3
for 48 in that situation during their current skid.
Rookie
pitcher David Hess (2-3) stumbled in his sixth big league start,
allowing five runs, five hits and a career-high four walks in 3 1/3
innings.
”At the end of the day, if I execute some pitches
a little bit better I think the results are different,” Hess said. ”But
that’s a good lineup. You’ve got to be at your best going out there and
tonight I wasn’t.”
Baltimore reliever Zach Britton made
his season debut, six months after undergoing surgery for a ruptured
right Achilles tendon. The lefty pitched a scoreless seventh inning.
”It almost felt like my debut, like an out-of-body experience Packers Game Jerseys ,” Britton said. ”It was weird.”
TAKE A SEAT
Red
Sox: OF Mookie Betts was held out of the starting lineup, one day after
ending a 14-game stay on the disabled list with an abdominal strain.
Cora said he didn’t want to push Betts so soon after his return, but
intends to start him in Wednesday’s series finale.
Orioles:
Struggling 1B Chris Davis (.150 batting average, 86 Ks) was benched and
likely will also be held out of the starting lineup Wednesday, manager
Buck Showalter said.
WELCOME, KID
The
Orioles agreed to terms with first-round pick Grayson Rodriguez, a
right-hander from Central Heights High School in Texas. Selected 11th
overall, Rodriguez was introduced to the crowd in the fourth inning.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Red
Sox: Relief pitcher Carson Smith, who hurt his shoulder last month when
he threw his glove in the dugout after giving up a home run to
Oakland’s Khris Davis, will have surgery Wednesday and could be lost for
the season, Cora said. … There is no timetable for the return of 2B
Dustin Pedroia (knee), a four-time All-Star who was placed on the
disabled list June 2. The team will wait until the inflammation subsides
before taking the next step.
Orioles: RHP Andrew Cashner
was placed on the DL with back spasms. He’s expected to miss only one
start. … SS Manny Machado returned to the lineup after sitting out with
an illness Monday.
UP NEXT
Red Sox: Chris Sale (5-4, 2.83 ERA) tries to end a run of three straight losing starts on Wednesday.
Orioles:
Baltimore takes another stab at becoming the final major league team to
win 20 games in 2018. Yefry Ramirez will be recalled from Triple-A
Norfolk to replace Cashner as the starter.
—
DENVER
— Antonio Senzatela will join the Colorado Rockies rotation Tuesday,
returning to the majors after two months at Triple-A and making his
first start in the big leagues since Aug. 28.
Senzatela
will take the turn of Jon Gray, whom the Rockies optioned to Triple-A
Albuquerque last Wednesday. A member of Colorado’s Opening Day roster,
Senzatela began the season as a long reliever and went 2-1 with a 6.23
ERA in 10 appearances.
The Rockies optioned Senzatela, 23, to Albuquerque on May 4. They wanted to have him build up arm strength to again start Texans Game Jerseys , feeling his ultimate value was in that role rather than in the bullpen.
Chris Stratton (8-5, 4.45) will oppose Senzatela as the Giants look to even the three-game series after losing 5-2 on Monday.
Senzatela
went 3-1, 2.15 in eight starts at Albuquerque with 12 walks, 42
strikeouts and one home run allowed in 37 2/3 innings. He was forced out
of a June 6 start in the first inning due to a right groin strain and
didn’t start again until June 23 when he threw 74 pitches in 3 1/3
innings and allowed two runs (one earned). Senzatela threw a season-high
90 pitches Wednesday against Sacramento and allowed three hits in 7 2/3
scoreless innings.
Despite having never pitched at the
Triple-A level, Senzatela was part of Colorado’s Opening Day rotation in
2017 and was the National League Rookie of the Month for April when he
went 3-1, 2.81 in five starts.
He ended the season 10-5,
4.68 in 36 games (20 starts), and Rockies manager Bud Black said that
experience should benefit Senzatela, whom the Rockies moved to the
bullpen last year when he began to wear down and to monitor his innings.
After pitching just 34 2/3 innings at Double-A in 2016, Senzatela threw
134 2/3 innings for the Rockies last season.
“He’s a year
older,” Black said. “He’s throwing the ball well. He was our best
pitcher the first two months last year, so he’s done it before. Last
year, he just ran out of gas.
“I’m excited about Senza.
We’ve seen Senza on this stage before in the big leagues and perform and
pitch well. And he’s coming off a pretty good stretch of games in
Albuquerque, especially his last one. He was nicked up a little bit with
a leg problem, but he’s over that. You look at the collective numbers
of what he did in Albuquerque, it’s good pitching.”
Senzatela is 3-0, 4.24 in five games (three starts) against the Giants and 9-3, 5.28 in 23 games (11 starts) at Coors Field.
The Giants are 11-6 in games started by Stratton Colts Game Jerseys ,
who was not involved in the decision Wednesday at San Francisco when he
faced the Rockies and gave up eight hits and five runs in four innings
in San Francisco’s 9-8 loss.
Stratton is 1-0, 6.19 in four
games (three starts) against the Rockies. In two starts against them
this season, he is 1-0, 8.00. At Coors Field, Stratton is 0-0 3.86 in
two games (one start).
Stratton, 27, made seven relief
appearances for the Giants in 2016 and last year went 4-4, 3.68 in 13
games (10 starts) for them.
“Strat came up last year and
was really impressive with his overall stuff and his command of it,”
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Got off to a great start this year.
He’s had a couple hiccups; he did (his) last start. But he handles
everything well. Four-pitch guy.”
Stratton has had to
assume more responsibility this season as Giants starters Madison
Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija were sidelined with injuries
— the latter two are still out. Dereck Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez and
Derek Holland have stepped in and helped stabilize the rotation behind
Stratton.
