Boston starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez won his 14th game on the mound on Saturday night throwing over seven innings of shutout baseball, and Brock Holt supplied all the offense they would need breaking a scoreless tie with a solo homerun as the Red Sox blanked the Baltimore Orioles 4-0 at Fenway Park to win their fourth straight game.
Rodriguez would face Orioles starter Asher Wojciechowski. Back on July 21st in Baltimore in an Orioles 5-0 win over the Red Sox, Wojciechowski shut down Boston allowing only one hit with 10 strikeouts in 7.1 innings. Wojciechowski started out solid again Saturday at least into the bottom of the fifth inning, matching Rodriguez as the teams remained scoreless with just two hits each through four and a half. Holt broke all that up taking the first pitch of that bottom of the fifth into the Boston bullpen in right field for a solo homerun to make it 1-0. Jackie Bradley Jr. followed with a triple, and then would score on a wild pitch with Mookie Betts batting to double the lead. Betts would end up walking before Wojciechowski would retire Rafael Devers on a popup to second base. Xander Bogaerts then singled and ended the night for the Baltimore starting right hander.
Boston (66-59) put the finishing touches on the win with a pair of runs in the seventh inning. With two outs Betts would double. Devers then would follow and took an 0-2 pitch to the opposite field in left into the monster seats for a two run homer to end all the scoring on the night. The biggest threat for the Orioles came in the eighth. After one out was recorded, Hanser Alberto singled to end the night for Rodriguez. Matt Barnes came on for relief and allowed a single to Trey Mancini and then unleashed a wild pitch to put runners on second and third. Barnes settled in however and struck out both Anthony Santander and Renato Nunez to end the inning.
Rodriguez (14-5) went 7.1 innings allowing no runs on four hits, with two walks and four strikeouts. Barnes and Brandon Workman worked the next 1.2 innings and only allowed one hit with four strikeouts. Betts had two hits to lead the offense while five others had one hit each. Wojciechowski (2-6) allowed two runs on five hits in 4.1 innings to take the loss for Baltimore. Mancini had two hits for the Birds, who drop to a dismal 39-84 on the season.
Boston will go for the three game sweep and try to extend to a five game winning streak on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. Both teams will go with a bullpen game. Nathan Eovaldi will be the first up for the Red Sox on the mound, while Ty Blach is the first out on the hill for the Orioles.
Boston left handed Eduardo Rodriguez gets set to throw a pitch in a game earlier this season at Fenway Park. Rodriguez pitched into the seventh inning Saturday night and earned his 14th win to help the Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles. Photo courtesy of Delaney Gardner
