Eduardo Rodriguez pitched for the first time since 2019 on Thursday afternoon, and the Boston Red Sox backed him up by staying hot at the plate winning their fourth straight game with a 7-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles in the O’s home opener at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
Rafael Devers got things off to a good start with his first homerun of the season, a two run bomb deep into the seats in center field in the top of the first inning. Ryan Mountcastle answered for Baltimore with a low line drive two run homer over the right center field fence off Rodriguez in the bottom half. The Orioles, who swept the Sox last week in the season opening series at Fenway Park, took their only lead when Pedro Severino also got one to go just over the right center field fence in the fourth for a solo homerun. Boston (4-3) took the lead for good in the sixth inning when Christian Arroyo had an RBI groundout, and Franchy Cordero had an RBI single to make it 4-3. JD Martinez added an RBI double in the seventh and Marwin Gonzales an RBI single, and the scoring was capped off for the day when Enrique ‘Kike’ Hernandez would hit a solo homer in the eighth to make a winner of Rodriquez.
Rodriguez (1-0) allowed three runs on four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in 5.0 innings. Garrett Whitlock, Matt Andriese, and Matt Barnes only allowed a total of one hit with no runs and seven strikeouts over the final 4.0 innings. Christian Vazquez had three hits, while Martinez, Devers, and Alex Verdugo all had two each in the 12 hit attack. Matt Harvey (0-1) took the loss for the 4-3 Orioles allowing four runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings. Severino had two hits. Rodriguez pitched for the first time since September 2019, missing the 2020 season due to COVID-19 and myocarditis which is an inflammation of the heart associated with the virus. He was shut down in spring training due to experiencing a dead arm. The teams are scheduled to have an off day on Friday before resuming their three game series on Saturday night at 7:10 p.m.
JD Martinez warms up in between innings of a 9-2 win over Tampa Bay at Fenway Park on Wednesday afternoon. Martinez had two more hits on Thursday in Baltimore to lead Boston to their fourth straight win. Photo courtesy of Marc Calnan
