Inside the Article:
Eduardo Rodriguez had what he called the “best start that I've ever had” on Sunday afternoon, but it was not quite good enough for the Detroit Tigers to escape with a win. Instead, the Tigers wasted over seven innings of perfect baseball from Rodriguez before eventually falling to the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 2-1 in extra innings. Following the game, Rodriguez talked about his outstanding start.
Key Facts
- Rodriguez pitched an absolute gem on Sunday against the Orioles
- The best start of Rodriguez's career was not quite enough for the Tigers to win
- Following the win, he talked about the “best start I ever had”
Eduardo Rodriguez has best start of career but Detroit Tigers lose
Following the game, Rodriguez spoke to reporters and he admitted that he was very aware of the fact that he had a perfect game going into the 7th inning.
“This is my best start that I've ever had,” Rodriguez said.
“You don’t think about that, you just keep pitching,” said Rodriguez, who later admitted that he absolutely knew what he was working on going into the eighth inning. “At the end of the day, I had to keep the game where it was at and try to help the team win.”
After sitting down Austin Hays and Adley Rutschman on strikes to start the seventh inning, Ryan Mountcastle hit a single to left to break up Rodriguez’s perfect game.
“I tried to throw a changeup down, trying to bounce it and get a swing and miss,” Rodriguez said. “It was down and away but he made a good swing on it.”
Bottom Line: Rodriguez was brilliant once again
After pitching eight scoreless innings (10 strikeouts and zero walks) on April 18th, Rodriguez backed it up with seven scoreless innings (6 strikeouts and zero walks) on Sunday against the Orioles. There is no question about it that Rodriguez has been pitching brilliantly, but if the Tigers cannot start scoring some runs, his starts will be wasted.
