E-Rod named Boston's Opening Day starter

The decision was made before Spring Training even started. But Red Sox manager Alex Cora at last made it official on Wednesday.

Left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez will start Opening Day for the Red Sox on April 1 at Fenway Park against the Orioles.

It is an honor that Rodriguez earned by based off of what he did in the 2019 season, busting out with 19 wins and 213 strikeouts.

But Rodriguez didn’t have the chance to pitch the opener last year because he missed the entire 2020 season due to myocarditis. This will be the first Opening Day start in his career.

It was only fitting that Cora made the announcement on a day Rodriguez was utterly dominant in a 9-1 win against the Twins, holding them to two hits and a run while walking none and striking out six over five innings. In three Grapefruit League starts, Rodriguez has a 2.31 ERA with no walks and 14 strikeouts.

“He’s one of the best out there," Cora said after the game. "He had a great season in ’19. Last year, he wasn’t able to pitch for obvious reasons, and what he’s shown now is that he’s healthy, he’s ready to go. Fifty-one pitches in five innings against a good lineup -- it was just a matter of time and that’s our Opening Day starter.”

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Due to his respect for Cora, Rodriguez pretended not to know he was pitching Opening Day when asked about it after his start against the Twins. He wanted Cora to announce it first.

“If I got the opportunity, I’m going to be so happy to do it because that’s something everybody wants to do one time in their career,” Rodriguez said. “If I have an opportunity to do it this year, I’m going to really appreciate it. I’m going to love it. Be the first pitcher of the season for us, I’m going to be so happy with it, you know.”

With each passing start in Spring Training, it became increasingly clear Rodriguez had no after-effects from the inflammatory heart condition he dealt with last season.

“He’s fresh, arm-wise, right? We always talk about possible negative things that can happen because he didn’t pitch,” Cora said. “Well, maybe there’s a few positives, right? He’s not coming back from an arm injury. He just obviously wasn’t able to pitch for health reasons. But he had a great offseason, a clean one, he was able to work out and do everything as expected. He was on point as far as his throwing program and he’s showing that he’s made some progress throwing strikes.”

Possible Opening Day lineup looking strong
Not only did Cora have his Opening Day pitcher on the mound Wednesday, but he had what could very well be the lineup he trots out there in two weeks against the Orioles.

It went like this:

Kiké Hernández 2B
Alex Verdugo CF
J.D. Martinez DH
Xander Bogaerts SS
Rafael Devers 3B
Hunter Renfroe RF
Marwin Gonzalez LF
Christian Vázquez C
Bobby Dalbec 1B.

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What speaks volumes is that the No. 9 hitter -- Dalbec -- mashed his second grand slam of the spring, and it wasn’t a surprise at all. Dalbec, the club's No. 3-ranked prospect by MLB Pipeline, has five homers in 27 at-bats in Spring Training. Rafael Devers also went deep.

“It's a good lineup. A deep lineup. When you have Christian Vázquez hitting eighth, that means we have a deep lineup. Somebody has to hit eighth, somebody has to hit ninth,” Cora said. “We feel comfortable where we're at. The lefty-righty stuff. We'll see how it plays out. There's good at-bats throughout. There's power, there's athletes.”

Franchy has ‘chance’ for Opening Day
In his race against the calendar to try to be ready for Opening Day, outfielder Franchy Cordero got seven at-bats in a “B” game on Wednesday. He will also come in on the off-day and get several more at-bats in a sim game.

Thursday should be particularly beneficial, as Cordero will get the chance to face a talented cast of pitchers that includes Garrett Richards, Hirokazu Sawamura, Darwinzon Hernandez and Matt Barnes.

Cordero missed the first couple of weeks of Spring Training due to COVID-19 but has done his best to make up for lost time since he was cleared to work out with the team.

“I’m not going to be surprised if [Cordero] is playing in the field by Monday,” Cora said.

That would give Cordero roughly a week of game action before Opening Day. Is that enough time for him to be able to break camp with the team?

“There's always a chance but we're not gonna push him,” Cora said. “But as far as at-bats, he's catching up with everybody. The thing is that he's not in the big field, obviously, but he's getting seven today, most likely he's getting seven tomorrow. The other day in the sim game he had seven, so as far as the at-bats, he's right there with everybody else. It’s just a matter of the other part, you know, playing defense, running the bases, but there's a chance he can be with us.”

• Predicting the Red Sox's Opening Day roster

Legends void
One big difference for the Red Sox this Spring Training due to COVID restrictions is being unable to have their legendary alumni serve as instructors.

In a typical year, Carl Yastrzemski, Dwight Evans, Pedro Martinez, Jim Rice, Luis Tiant and David Ortiz are all in uniform at varying frequency.

“It's different. Having them is another set of eyes, another voice,” said Cora. “Having Dewey here talking to the outfielders, being part of the drills [is beneficial]. It's something that's very important to every organization. I grew up with the Dodgers, I saw those guys walking around in Dodgertown, helping you out not only on the field but off the field.

“Same thing here. Not having Pedro in the bullpens, that's something we miss, but obviously everybody understands. We knew it from the get-go. Hopefully next year when we're back here, everything will be back to normal and we can have Jim, Dewey, Pedro, and obviously David with all his necklaces and smelling good and bringing the vibe, that will be good. We miss them. It's not the same without them."

Santana update
The Red Sox had an encouraging update on infielder/outfielder Danny Santana, who had been hospitalized for several days with a right foot infection and is certain to open the season on the injured list.

“Danny is coming out of the hospital today,” Cora said. “He’s going to have the stitches for two weeks. He has to go through [COVID] intake and all that stuff again. But the good news is, we’re doing all right. He’s in good spirits. I’ve been texting with him, communicating the last few days, and obviously he’s night and day with where he’s at emotionally. So, I’m happy for him.”

Cutdowns
The Red Sox continued to pare their roster down following Wednesday’s game.

No. 1 prospect Triston Casas and No. 4 prospect Jarren Duran were both reassigned to the Minor Leagues. Righty Tanner Houck was optioned to the alternate site.

Others reassigned were Kole Cottam, Daniel Gossett, Stephen Gonsalves, Josh Ockimey and Yairo Muñoz.

Up next
The Red Sox have their final day off of the Grapefruit League schedule on Thursday. When the club returns to action on Friday against the Rays, righty Nathan Eovaldi will be on the mound. The flame-throwing righty had 10 pitches that were at least 100 mph in his last start. First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. at JetBlue Park, live on MLB.TV.