BOSTON — Eduardo Rodriguez was taken out of Sunday’s contest versus the Yankees after a migraine.
The lefty pitched a 1-2-3 first inning, but his velocity was noticeably down in the second. He walked Gary Sanchez, surrendered a single to Gleyber Torres before Brett Gardner doubled home Sanchez. The left-hander’s night was ended before he could even record an out in the second inning, as he sat on the mound crouched down for roughly a minute or two before walking off and being replaced by Phillips Valdez.
“He had some migraine — he was having trouble concentrating,” said manager Alex Cora. “I saw the first inning — he was very locked in, very serious. (Then) I saw him in the dugout… He’s usually very talkative, walking around the dugout. He was in the corner of the dugout and not talking to people. Then, that happens. Hopefully this is something we can can contain and hopefully he doesn’t miss a start.”
Friday night puts the 28-year-old’s ERA at 5.19 on the season through 95.1 innings, although other metrics show the Venezuelan-born hurler has gotten quite unlucky. The lefty has career-highs in FIP (3.51), xFIP (3.33), strikeout rate (27.6%), walk rate (5.7%), and SIERA (3.46).
“I didn’t know,” Cora said when asked if he knew it was an injury after E-Rod acted strange in the dugout. “But, the way he was acting, and then when they told me what it was, how he felt on the mound, that’s where I was like: ‘Oh, okay. That’s why he’s acting so different today.'”
While he experienced myocarditis in 2020 which kept him out for the whole season, Rodriguez hasn’t experienced any injuries this season except for dead arm, which happened at the very beginning of the season and forced him to miss just one start.
Cora says the lefty might have to miss a start, but he isn’t all that worried if the Venezuelan has to do so.
“I mean, the way Christian (Vazquez) reacted, I was like ‘there’s something going on,'” said Cora. “I mean, I thought it was an injury, right? When I went out there and talked to him, and he was telling me how he felt, what was going on, just take a deep breath and we’ll take you out of the game. That’s what we do — you’ve got to take care of players. That’s the most important thing.”
“Now we just have to see how he reacts tonight and see how he feels tomorrow and go from there,” he continued. “If he misses a start, he misses it. He didn’t pitch last year with a heart problem, so we have very careful with him.”
Rodriguez is in line to start Wednesday, versus Toronto.