We knew this was going to be a tough season for Eduardo Rodriguez in some ways, with the lefty coming off a year in which he was contaminated with COVID and then established myocarditis, keeping him off the field for the whole of 2020. He was great against the Yankees last time out, and was looking to utilize this start in Oakland as a method to build on that and really make this a turnaround.
He was successful, getting through this Oakland lineup as greatly as weve seen from him all season. Rodriguez got a little help from the umpire on a couple of backdoor cutters to get the momentum rolling, and made fairly quick work of this Athletics lineup through the early going, issuing just a walk in a scoreless first inning.
The southpaw saw his first bit of difficulty in the game in the 2nd, however, but it can be found in the type of more bad luck. Chad Pinder led off the inning reaching on a mistake when Marwin Gonzalez appeared to stumble a bit as he was entering his tossing motion, resulting in a weak and inefficient toss to first. Pinder then went up to second on a ground ball before Frank Schwindel struck a two-out grounder into the hole in left field. It looked like it would slip through to provide Oakland the early lead, however Xander Bogaerts made a big diving stop. He didnt get the final out, but he saved a run, and the run conserved would stand as Rodriguez got the final out after that and kept the As at zero runs.
From there, things got pretty hassle-free for the next few innings. Rodriguez tossed a perfect third, issued a leadoff walk however still only dealt with 3 batters in the fourth thanks to an inning-ending double play, and after that got through another ideal inning in the fifth.

It sounds cliche, and its been said about this particular Red Sox group about a million times currently, but its true: They simply keep discovering ways to win. The offense had a lot of opportunities in the first half of the game to break the rating open, however time and time once again they came up short. They got one run in the top of the 10th and kept things scoreless in the bottom half thanks to a huge play from Kiké Hernández, making it 8 wins in a row.

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So the Red Sox starter was doing his thing, however the offense struggled to provide him much support going up against a former Boston prospect in Frankie Montas. The righty retired each of the first 6 batters he dealt with. The Sox lastly got something entering the third, with Christian Vázquez leading things off by getting hit by a pitch and rapidly moving up to 2nd on a wild pitch. It was a big possibility to score the games first run, however they managed simply a walk through the rest of the inning and remained scoreless through three.
That did lastly change in the 4th, though with a little good luck on their side. After Bogaerts led the inning off with a walk, Devers struck a little soft line drive out to left field that looked like an easy base hit. Tony Kemp tried to do excessive, however, extending for a diving catch and losing. The ball rolled by him, and by the time center fielder Ramón Laureano was there to select it up, Bogaerts was around to provide Boston the 1-0 lead. They likewise had a runner on 2nd and still no one out, once again they stopped working to get that runner house.
The 5th inning established to be similarly irritating to for them too, when they got the first two batters on with a base hit and a hit batter. That brought Kiké Hernández up in a huge area, however he struck into a huge double play to make things far more hard for his offense. Thankfully, Alex Verdugo prevented things being a total waste, smacking a base hit through the left side for an RBI single, giving his group the 2-0 lead.
As we made our way into the 6th, the Red Sox as soon as again threatened early, getting back-to-back songs to begin the inning. After 2 fast outs, it looked like another capacity stopped working opportunity. Danny Santana was able to keep things alive with a walk, however, which was completion of the night for Montas with another former Red Sox farmhand, J.B. Wendelken, being available in with two outs and the bases full. He required just one pitch to get a turn up, and ball game was still just 2-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th.

Chad Pinder led off the inning reaching on a mistake when Marwin Gonzalez appeared to stumble a bit as he was getting into his throwing movement, leading to a weak and inadequate throw to. He didnt get the last out, however he conserved a run, and the run saved would stand as Rodriguez got the last out after that and kept the As at no runs.
The Sox lastly got something going in the 3rd, with Christian Vázquez leading things off by getting struck by a pitch and quickly moving up to second on a wild pitch. As we made our method into the 6th, the Red Sox once again threatened early, getting back-to-back singles to start off the inning. He got a fastball up in the zone and was all over it, sending it up and over the wall in best field for a solo shot, cutting the Red Sox lead in half.

It looked like the Red Sox need to have been leading by a lot more, however they werent and they required Rodriguez to continue cruising. They had exactly no problems with that. The lefty had another best inning in the sixth, even snagging a pair of strikeouts to do it. That ended up doing it for the lefty on the night despite sitting at a sensible 89 pitches. However it was another strong trip, tossing 6 shutout innings on simply a single hit and 2 walks with six strikeouts.
With Rodriguez out of the video game and the Red Sox stopping working to add insurance in the top of the seventh, Garrett Whitlock began for the bottom of the inning with a two-run result in hold. The rookie got off to a good start with 2 fast outs including a strikeout, but Jed Lowrie put a wrench into the night. He got a fastball up in the zone and was all over it, sending it up and over the wall in best field for a solo shot, cutting the Red Sox lead in half.
Following a second straight 1-2-3 inning for the Boston offense, Whitlock returned out to start the eighth, and he held the lead again. The righty tossed a best inning this time around, striking out the last 2 batters of the inning.
The Red Sox more detailed has actually been so rock solid this year, however he failed this time around. Barnes got three straight outs after that, and we were heading for complimentary baseball.
In the tenth, with the complimentary runner starting on 2nd, it took just one swing to give the Red Sox their lead right back. Hernández hit a little broken-bat liner into center field and Michael Chavis came around to score, making it a 3-2 video game.
In the bottom of the inning, it was Ottavino trying to close it out this time around. He didnt leave to a fantastic start, enabling a leadoff base hit through the left side to put men on the corners. Sean Murphy followed that up with a fly ball out to center field, and Seth Brown attempted to connect the video game from 3rd base. Kiké Hernández had other ideas, however, shooting a bullet to the plate to lower the runner for a huge second out. One routine fly ball later, and the Red Sox had actually pulled out their 8th straight win.
The 3-2 triumph pushed the Red Sox record to 52-31. With the Rays losing, Bostons lead in the department grows to 4.5.

The Red Sox will want to clinch yet another series win on Saturday, with Garrett Richards handling Cole Irvin. Very first pitch is set out in Oakland for 7:15 PM ET.
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