Eduardo Rodriguez. (Omar Rawlings/Getty Images)
BOSTON (WBZ-AM) -- The Red Sox hold the best record in baseball by nine games, but they're also missing two starters.
Good news, though--Eduardo Rodriguez is nearing a return after pitching four scoreless innings of one-hit ball, with eight strikeouts, last night for AA Portland.
"Feels really good, like everything, throwing my pitches, especially when I got a ground ball to third base, I got a run there," Rodriguez said. "I think everything was really good."
Rodriguez's first game action since suffering ligament damage in his ankle July 14th. Alex Cora, what'd you hear?
"I think the cutter was outstanding," Cora said. "The plan is for him, probably, to go another one--and we'll go from there. Obviously we'll have to wait to see how he reacts from this one, but for everything I heard down there just now, he was outstanding."
Hopefully Rodriguez will return to the majors around September 1st. As for Chris Sale's shoulder inflammation, the manager said that timeline's uncertain.
"We're not going to push him," Cora said. "We're not shooting for Sunday or Friday, whatever. We're shooting for whenever he's ready. So as of now, he's going through all those exercises and obviously, the inflammation has to go. Whenever he's ready to go out there and play catch, he's ready."
For now, David Price is anchoring the rotation, and Rick Porcello and Nathan Eovaldi have been generally reliable.
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) reports