(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
The Red Sox’ bats have come back to earth over the past two games, scoring just two runs in their last 22 innings. Last night they were shutout by Kevin Gausman and an outstanding Baltimore bullpen, managing only three hits. It was the first time since July 19th that the Red Sox failed to score. That’s a pretty good run for a last-place team.
Eduardo Rodriguez was the tough-luck loser. Eddie had arguably his best fastball of the season and concomitantly piled up the strikeouts, racking up 9 in just 5.1 innings. The only run he surrendered was in the very first inning, and it was kind of a cheesy one. Nolan Reimold fought off a 2-2 fastball and fisted it into right field for a soft single. Manny Machado walked on some borderline pitches. Chis Davis flew out, Reimold to third. Adam Jones grounded to second, but Josh Rutledge couldn’t decide whether to A) throw home, B) tag Machado to start a double play, or C) throw to first to get Jones. Rutledge went with option D) drop the ball and get no one. Eddie would strike out Steve Pearce and nab a Jonathan Schoop grounder to escape further harm.
Rodriguez was great after that first inning, featuring the aforementioned fastball, and a just-soft-enough changeup (his slider was AWOL). But logging 27 pitches in the first inning, combined with three walks and nine strikeouts meant that he’d get the hook with one out in the 6th.
| Pitchers | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rodríguez (L, 9-6) | 5.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 3.94 |
The Orioles would get another run in the bottom of the 7th on a double by Jones, and go on to win the game by a final count of 2-0.
Notes:
–Jackie Bradley has cooled significantly, and is just 1-19 since his four-hit game against Toronto last week.
-Good to see ‘Duardo’s ERA back under 4. Throwing out his early starts against the Blue Jays and the Orioles when he was tipping his pitches and his ERA is 2.93.
-Kevin Gausman is the guy the O’s held onto in the Andrew Miller trade that brought Rodriguez to the Red Sox. At the time I was disappointed, but I’m pretty happy with the way things turned out. Not that Gausman has been bad, and he out-dueled Rodriguez last night, but Eddie has been better overall.