BALTIMORE — While pitching for the Red Sox for six seasons in the American League East, left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez had tremendous success in baffling Orioles hitters.
Now in his second campaign with the Tigers, he delivered one of his best efforts on Sunday, continuing his dominance against the team that signed him out of Venezuela in 2010 and gave him his first contract.
In a 2-1 loss in 10 innings on Sunday afternoon at Camden Yards, Rodriguez did not allow Baltimore a baserunner until the seventh inning, retiring the first 20 batters he faced. Ryan Mountcastle’s clean single to left-center field with two outs in the seventh was the Orioles’ only hit off the southpaw.
Baltimore came back to win the game after Rodriguez’s departure, sweeping the three-game set. The Tigers have lost four in a row.
Despite the no-decision, the 30-year-old is 10-0 with a 1.56 ERA in his past 12 starts against the Orioles dating back to 2018, allowing only 13 earned runs over 75 innings.
Overall, Rodriguez has a 2.79 career ERA in 24 appearances (22 starts) against Baltimore, and he has recorded 135 strikeouts in 132 1/3 innings against the Birds. He was traded from Baltimore to Boston on July 31, 2014, for left-hander Andrew Miller.
The left-hander struck out six Orioles with what skipper A.J. Hinch deemed an “unpredictable” mix of his fastball, cutter and changeup. The Orioles reached the outfield just five times on flyouts before Mountcastle’s single.