Sox roll with E-Rod's 'best start of season' 

ST. PETERSBURG -- During a two-city road trip in which COVID-19 depleted their roster, the Red Sox demonstrated some impressive mettle by making it a winning journey, capped by a 4-0 victory over the Rays on Thursday night at Tropicana Field.

Eduardo Rodriguez had the most to do with making it a happy flight to Boston as he dominated for six-plus innings, allowing the Red Sox (77-59) to split this four-game series against the American League East-leading Rays (84-50) after losing the first two games.

Though a 4-3 road trip isn’t usually one to brag about for a contender, this is one the Sox can feel plenty good about.

Eight players -- four position players and four relievers -- were placed on the COVID-19 related injury list on the first six days of this sojourn through Cleveland and St. Petersburg.

But on lucky Day 7 -- and for the first time since Saturday -- there were no positive tests, which made it a very positive getaway night for the Sox, who are in the second AL Wild Card spot by two games over the A’s (74-60 after an 8-6 win over the Tigers on Thursday).

“There was a lot of energy today. The guys were into it from the get-go and to be able to do that is a testament to them, as a group,” manager Alex Cora said. “They understand that teams go through stuff like that. It’s not the first team that has a COVID issue, but there have been teams that went through this and then they took off, right? Hopefully this is our ‘taking off’ and we can play solid baseball all the way through September and get to October to play in October.”

Rodriguez bookended the trip by winning the first and the last game. He went seven strong in Cleveland and followed it with a scoreless performance against the Rays.

“Today was one of those days that, for the first time of the whole season, I felt completely like me in my location,” Rodriguez said. “The cutter, the changeup, the curveball, the four-seam -- for the first time, I felt good with all of it. That’s how I want to feel the rest of the season, especially when you’re trying to make it to the playoffs.”

When you consider that the rotation is the one area of the Red Sox in which there are no COVID cases -- knock on wood -- it’s more important than usual for the starters to come through during this next week to 10 days.

“We feel like we can pitch. We can pitch with anybody in the league,” Cora said.

Though it’s been an up-and-down season for Rodriguez (11-7, 4.88 ERA), he could be positioning himself for a strong finish in a rotation fronted by Chris Sale and first-time All-Star Nathan Eovaldi.

“I feel like that was my best start of the season. That’s the way I feel today,” Rodriguez said. “Velocity-wise, control-wise, body-wise, everything.”

When Rodriguez departed in the midst of a jam in the seventh (two on, nobody out), Garrett Richards mowed through the Rays.

In fact, Richards was the setup man and the closer, working the final three innings (one hit, one walk, four strikeouts) for his second save since he came out of the rotation.

Richards has allowed one run over 13 1/3 innings covering seven appearances since his switch in roles.

“It's just a matter that we had other guys coming in and he embraced the opportunity,” Cora said. “He didn't see it as a demotion. He wants to help us win and has been outstanding. A lot more competitive pitches from the bullpen.”

Offensively, the Red Sox chipped away with a pair of RBI singles by Bobby Dalbec (the American League Rookie of the Month for August) and run-scoring knocks from Hunter Renfroe and J.D. Martinez.

Much like Richards giving the bullpen a lift at a time it is needed, Dalbec is doing it for a lineup that has been without spark plug Kiké Hernández for a week and team leader Xander Bogaerts for the better part of the final three games in St. Pete. Bogaerts was pulled off the field due to a positive COVID test in the second inning of Tuesday’s defeat.

As stressful as things have been lately, and as concerned as the Red Sox's players have been about their sidelined teammates, they had some satisfaction as they headed back to Boston.

"It's huge,” Dalbec said. “Tough timing to go through this, but we're pulling through, weathering the storm. It’s all part of it.”

And after Sale set the tone with his left arm on Wednesday, he did so with his voice on Thursday.

“Chris was talking to the guys today and he’s been saying all along, ‘Nothing is going to stop us.’” Cora said. “He’s been very loud in the clubhouse just letting them know, ‘It doesn’t matter what’s going on, we’re going to keep pushing, we’re going to be OK.’ And when you have guys like that that can speak up in the clubhouse, and then they go out there and they perform, it’s a lot easier.”