Eduardo Rodriguez’s struggles continue as Red Sox silenced by Blue Jays

Even though the environment suggested otherwise as they played at a spring training facility, Alex Cora knew his first-place Red Sox couldn’t take this week’s series against the second-place Blue Jays lightly.

“We’ve got to be ready for this,” Cora said. “These three games, they count.”

But then they fell way short in one of their flattest performances of the season.

Eduardo Rodriguez’s underwhelming month continued, and he didn’t get any help from his offense, either. The Red Sox gave up a season-high 18 hits — 11 by Rodriguez — as they were silenced by Hyun-Jin Ryu in an 8-0 loss to the Blue Jays at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Fla. It was just the second time the Red Sox have been shut out this season as their AL East lead shrunk to a half-game over the Jays.

Rodriguez has been one of the best stories in baseball as he rebounds from a lost 2020 season, but lately, the lefty has fallen short of being the ace that Cora has labeled him. Tuesday, he submitted his worst outing of the season as he tied a career high by allowing 11 hits and gave up five earned runs, the most he has surrendered in a game this year.

The Blue Jays, one of the most aggressive offenses in baseball, swung early on Rodriguez and were successful. Four of their first nine batters swung at Rodriguez’s first pitch — and all of them were hits. Rodriguez did well to limit the damage early, but the Jays finally broke through on No. 9 hitter Danny Jansen’s RBI single in the second.

Jansen continued to be a thorn in Rodriguez’s side in the fourth as he drew a two-out walk, and the Jays took full advantage. They scored three runs, including on a double to the left-center gap from Bo Bichette.

Rodriguez gave up another run in the fifth when Teoscar Hernandez hit a first-pitch, leadoff double before scoring on a single by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. that made it 5-0.

The night wasn’t much longer for Rodriguez, who allowed four doubles and has looked nothing like his dominant form in spring training and the first month of the season, when he started the year 4-0 and had a 3.52 ERA. In four starts in May, Rodriguez has totaled just 21 innings and allowed 33 hits, six walks and 14 earned runs. That’s a WHIP of 1.86 and ERA of 6.00, and his ERA this season is up to 4.70, the highest among Red Sox starters.

Other takeaways from the Red Sox’ loss:

— After not starting Sunday, Alex Verdugo picked up on the momentum from Saturday’s win — when he ended a slump with a homer on his birthday — as he collected two hits, including a leadoff double in the fourth. But the Red Sox couldn’t muster much else against Ryu, the Jays’ ace, in a rare cold night for the league’s best offense.

Xander Bogaerts followed in the fourth by reaching on what was originally an error but later ruled a single to put runners on first and third with one out. But the Red Sox couldn’t cash in on their only real opportunity as Rafael Devers popped out and Christian Vazquez flew out. They were unable to put another runner in scoring position against Ryu, who threw seven shutout innings and allowed just four hits.

The Red Sox were shut out for the first time since their Opening Day loss to the Orioles.

— Hunter Renfroe had a rough night. A week after his underrated defensive abilities were on full display, the right fielder made an error that cost the Red Sox a run. In the fourth, Marcus Semien hit a two-out single to right that scored a run, but Renfroe’s aggressive throw to third sailed past Devers, allowing another run to score that made it 3-0.

Renfroe then led off the fifth with a deep hit to right, but he was thrown out at second by Hernandez. It appeared Renfroe slid in safely, but his hand came off the base while Bichette’s tag was applied, making him clearly out.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/2SXaBRr