Eduardo Rodriguez, who on Friday was ruled out of his scheduled Opening Day start due to a "dead arm,'' threw a 36-pitch bullpen Saturday morning and reported feeling much better.
"It felt really good today,'' Rodriguez said. "I threw all my pitches, felt strong I'll have to see how I feel (Sunday), but I feel really good today.''
"He was good,'' said Alex Cora. "Actually, better than we thought. Obviously, it was in a controlled environment, which is good. But he was able to throw all his pitches. Control was sharp. Now, we'll wait to see how he reacted (Sunday) and we'll map it out from there. But he looked OK, he looked OK. Obviously, it wasn't max effort and throwing 93-94 mph, but for him to get back on the mound, it was a good step.''
Rodriguez reiterated that, earlier in the week, he simply didn't feel himself, resulting in an abbreviated start of just two innings.
"I didn't feel strong enough to keep going,'' he said. "After that, we just made a decision together that I wasn't going to be available to go for Opening Day. I don't like to go out there (when I'm not 100 percent). It's happened to me in the past with my knee. I would tell myself, 'I can do it, I can do it,' and then we would lose a game because of that. I looked bad on the mound because of that.
"I'm going to go out there when I'm 100 percent and when I'm ready to compete against the other guy on the hump.''
But he emphasized that he didn't feel any arm pain.
"Everything is fine there,'' he said. "My shoulder and elbow feel really good.''
Rodriguez admitted being ruled out for his first Opening Day start was a disappointment.
"Everybody wants to go out on Opening Day at least one time in their career,'' he said. "But I think we made the right decision. I don't want to go out there just throwing the ball. I want to be pitching. I want to go out there and compete with everything I have.''
Cora said the Sox will know more about Rodriguez's availability Sunday and determine whether he can stay off the IL at the start of the season. There remains a chance that Rodriguez could still pitch in the first five games.
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