Eduardo Rodriguez hurls eight shutout for 10th win

Rodriguez held the Nationals in check all night, with his lone blemish coming in the fourth inning thanks to a two-run homer by Dylan Crews. Three of the seven hits Rodriguez allowed in this one came in the fourth inning, but overall, he did a nice job of limiting base runners against one of the top offenses in the league. A sacrifice fly RBI by Gabriel Moreno in the top of the seventh allowed Rodriguez to exit this one with the lead, and the Diamondbacks’ bullpen did its part to secure him his ninth victory of the season. Rodriguez’s next start is scheduled for Wednesday on the road against the Pirates.

This seems long overdue for Rodriguez, who just went to his first All-Star game in spite of a career-worst 17 percent strikeout rate. He allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out three today. It’s the first time in 20 starts this year that he’s allowed more than four runs. However, since the D-backs pulled off a big comeback, he remained 8-3. He’ll face the Nationals next weekend.

Rodriguez struck out five and walked one, making for one of his better K/BBs of the year. He’s actually had just one start this season with more than four more strikeouts than walks, yet that was in one of his three losses; he struck out six and walked none while giving up three runs in 5 1/3 innings versus the Rockies at Coors Field back in May. With the win, the first-time All-Star closes out the first half 8-3 with a 2.29 ERA.

Rodriguez kept the Brewers scoreless until giving up a single and a homer to Jake Bauers to begin the seventh, ending his day at 102 pitches. One inning earlier, he gave up a 423-foot double to Jackson Chourio that would have been a homer in 29 ballparks. Other than that, Rodriguez was quite good, even though his velocity was down a tad. He struck out just three, but then, he’s averaging only four strikeouts per start on the season. He walked none for a second straight outing, which is nice from a guy who had a 10 percent walk rate previously. Rodriguez was named to his first All-Star team on Saturday. His peripherals suggest that he’s due to regress, but he’s 7-3 with a 2.25 ERA right now. He’ll likely face the Dodgers on Friday.

One would think for Rodriguez to be 7-1 with a 2.21 ERA while sporting the worst strikeout and walk rates of his career, the left-hander would at least have to be producing an extraordinary amount of soft contact. That’s not what’s happening, though. He gave up 12 hard-hit balls tonight, and his hard hit and barrel rates are about a little higher than his career averages. It just hasn’t mattered for a full three months now. He surrendered three barrels tonight, all of which turned into outs. Two were off the bat off Rafael Devers and would have been homers in 17 and six ballparks, respectively. Rodriguez ranks fifth in the majors in ERA. He’ll take on the Brewers next.

Rodriguez gave up three hits, walked three and struck out five. The 33-year-old left-hander continues to defy logic and statistics with his 2.27 ERA in 16 starts. Rodriguez skills paint a very different story as he has a 17 percent strikeout percentage, eight percent walk percentage and 4.40 xFIP. Rodriguez is lined up to face the Rays on the road this weekend and regression could be waiting for him regardless of the opponent.

The run came right away on Zach Neto’s leadoff homer in the first. Rodriguez allowed five more hits and walked three, but he induced three double-play balls to halt any rallies. Rodriguez is putting together a pretty amazing combination in boasting a career-low ERA (2.45), a career-low strikeout rate (17.9 percent) and a career-high walk rate (9.6 percent) this season. His groundball and exit velocity numbers aren’t any better than usual, so something will have to give at some point. He’ll pitch in St. Louis and St. Pete next week.

Rodriguez struggled with his command early in this one. He threw 40 pitches and walked three batters in the first inning, but somehow managed to escape the frame after forcing back-to-back flyouts to end a bases-loaded threat. Rodriguez would allow a leadoff homer to Noelvi Marte to start the second inning, and he only recorded two outs in the third before being pulled with a runner on and 85 pitches thrown. The five walks Rodriguez allowed are the most he has allowed in any game this season. We’ll assume this was just a bad night, and he’ll regain his command in his next start, which is scheduled for Wednesday against the Angels.

Things did not start out well for Rodriguez when Curtis Mead socked a two-run homer as the second batter of the game. Then, after cruising in the middle innings, he gave up two more runs when the Diamondbacks tried to push him through the seventh. Still, his changeup and curveball were each highly effective as they’ve been for most of his resurgent season. He’ll take a 2.52 ERA into his next scheduled start against the Reds in Cincinnati.

Rodriguez endured an amusing sequence in the fourth, when Miguel Rojas challenged a pair of strike calls and both were found to have missed the zone by 0.1 inches. That put Rodriguez behind 3-1, but Rodriguez came back with an obvious strike and then another close call that Rojas again challenged. This time, the strike call stood, with about one-quarter of the baseball catching the corner. In truth, Rojas really shouldn’t have challenged any of them, considering there were two outs and none on at the time. The D-backs didn’t go ahead until the bottom of the seventh tonight, so Rodriguez remained 5-1 with a 2.24 ERA. Arizona did improve to 9-3 in his starts, however. Rodriguez will face the Nationals on Saturday.