NORTH PORT, Fla. -- What a difference a year makes.
Only a year ago, Eduardo Rodriguez was the Baby Brother in the Red Sox starting rotation, being mentored by the older starting pitchers in the group and still learning his craft. Former manager Alex Cora upbraided Rodriguez for not being efficient enough in a spring start in Port St. Lucie and acknowledged that the lefty sometimes needed the benefit of "tough love.''
All of that was before Rodriguez led the Red Sox staff in wins (19), inning pitches (203.1) and strikeouts (2013) and established himself as one of the American League's best starters.
And now, with David Price (trade) and Rick Porcello (free agent) gone and Chris Sale unavailable for the start of the season, Rodriguez is, for now, the ace of the staff and poised to be the Sox' Opening Day starter when the Sox begin their season March 26 in Toronto.
"He kind of pitched his way into being a N0. 1 last year,'' said Ron Roenicke. "I'm hoping the confidence from what he did last year (will carry over). I don't think there will be a lot of pressure on him. We're not saying, 'Hey, you're the guy and you have to do it.' I think he just has to pitch the way he's been pitching. Whenever he was out there last year we thought we were going to win the game and that's a great feeling for us and it should give him a lot of confidence.
"The mental part of it, I've seen growth and him becoming a bit of a leader with the young Latin players, which we love to see. And physically, the first year I was here he had those woes trying to get the fifth inning for a while. And last year, he was the pitcher we all hoped he could be and had a fantastic year.''
Rodriguez was sharp against the Braves in a 7-5 loss, allowing two runs over four innings. In the first, a windblown popup dropped in and led to a run. Rodriguez later gave up a solo homer to Austin Riley in the fourth.
Other than that, the Braves had just one other hit. Rodriguez walked one and fanned four.
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