The Red Sox won 4-3 over the Blue Jays last night, their third straight victory. Here’s how it happened:

The story coming into this game was “is Eduardo Rodriguez tipping pitches?” If you hadn’t heard, the scuttlebutt was that Eddie was showing his hand early in his last outing, but only when pitching from the stretch. This theory certainly held water, seeing as in that game he retired the first 10 Orioles he faced, then one batter reached and Rodriguez surrendered 6 runs, and only recorded one more out.

Over the course of the past four days that theory had been confirmed. Eduardo was looking at the ground before throwing his offspeed pitches, and looking more to the side before throwing his fastball.

Last night, he was definitely conscious of his head positioning. Several times Eddie took the sign from the stretch, lowered his head, then stepped off. Since he was involuntarily tipping his pitches (obviously), I’d imagine it was tough for him to concentrate on locating his pitches while fighting a natural instinct. Regardless, Rodriguez performed admirably, holding Toronto to one run in six innings. This was especially impressive considering that the Jays touched him for 9 runs the last time he faced them.

Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Rodríguez (W, 4-2)	6.0	4	1	1	2	4	0	3.92

Rodriguez was opposed by Marco Estrada, who had been untouchable in his last two starts, taking no-hitters into the 8th inning both times. It was evident right off the bat that Eastrada didn’t have the same no-hit stuff. He walked four men in the first frame, giving up two runs on 0 hits (Mookie reached on an error to lead off the inning).

Somewhere in that first inning it looked like Estrada lost the feel for his fastball, and he started relying heavily on his changeup. He as a good one (he’s no Clayton Mortensen but who is?), but he went to the well many too many times.

In the top of the second, Jackie Bradley Jr. sat on an all-systems-go change that hung on the outside corner.

Unfortunately for Jackie, this might be too little too late. John Farrell announced after the game that Hanley will be back in the lineup tomorrow after putting on a show in BP before the game. De Aza has been exceptional of late, and Victorino is nearing a return. Barring anything unforeseen, JBJ most likely won’t get consistent at-bats for the remainder of 2015 – maybe in September if things break a certain way.

In the top of the 3rd, it was Ortiz’s turn to be cleared for launch on an Estrada change.

That ball might’ve actually gone to the moon. It’s not quite Manny’s shot, which was last spotted near the Andromeda Galaxy, but a rocket nonetheless.

This put the score at 4-0, and the Red Sox would need all of those runs. Tommy Layne surrendered two more runs on top of Rodriguez’s one, to bring the score to an uncomfortable 4-3. With Toronto’s lineup and the roof closed in the Rogers Centre, a one run lead feels like you’re starting every inning with a runner already on 3rd, but Ogando had a big-time 8th inning, getting Joey Bats, Edwin Encarnacion, and Chris Colabello in order, and Koji came in and had a 1-2-3 ninth, sealing the Sox’ third straight win.

Notes:

-After the game Rodriguez acknowledged explicitly that he was tipping his pitches with his head position. I thought it was kind of odd that he openly admitted the specifics of it, even if it was pretty obvious. I’m guessing because it’s not a mechanical thing, just something he has to be conscious of, it’s not as important to try and keep the “tip” a secret. If it was mechanical it’d be a much bigger issue and a longer fix, and may even have meant a trip to the minors to sort it out. This is a relief, and maybe he can even use it to his advantage by looking down when he comes set, then firing 95 MPH cheese.

–Ryan Hanigan will be called up tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see what happens here because Swihart has played well and deserves to stay with the big club in my opinion, but Leon has been Buchholz’s personal catcher … and he’s out of options.

-The Sox inked their top two draft picks Andrew Benintendi and Austin Rei.

-The White Sox’ Chris Sale had 12 K’s last night, giving him 10 or more strikeouts in eight straight starts. The only other guy to do that? Pedro in ’99.

–Brock Holt!

-Everyone else in the division lost last night. Here’s how the AL East is looking, in case you had tuned out:

East	W	L	PCT	GB	WCGB	L10	STRK
Baltimore	41	36	.532	–	–	7-3	L2
Tampa Bay	42	37	.532	–	–	3-7	L3
NY Yankees	41	37	.526	0.5	0.5	3-7	L3
Toronto	41	38	.519	1.0	1.0	4-6	L2
Boston	36	43	.456	6.0	6.0	6-4	W3

Not exactly apocalyptic.