NEW YORK -- Clean shaven. Clean slate.

Perhaps that was how Eduardo Rodriguez viewed Friday night’s start at Yankee Stadium in the first game after the All-Star break.

• Box score

It sure looked that way when the lefty cruised while lifting the Red Sox to a 4-0 victory over their depleted rivals in the delayed-by-a-day opener of what will now be a three-game series.

With the win, Boston moved to 7-0 against New York this season. The Sox maintained a 1 1/2 game lead against the Rays in the American League East and now lead the Yankees by nine games.

Looking youthful as he pitched without facial hair for the first time in years, Rodriguez allowed just two hits over 5 2/3 scoreless innings, walking two and striking out eight.

Rodriguez threw 96 pitches and generated 13 whiffs out of the 41 swings the Yankees took against him.

It turns out, however, that Rodriguez's clean shave had nothing to do with trying to change his luck and everything to do with pleasing his young daughter Annie.

“I just shaved because my daughter, she’s been on top of me all the time, because every time I hug her she just goes, ‘Daddy, I don’t want that. Shave it please.’ And I was home during the All-Star break and she kept doing it,” said Rodriguez. “And I went to my restroom and I see the razor there and I said, ‘OK I’ll do it for her.’ I’ve had a beard for the last five or six years, so it feels good. I feel like I lost five years. Even my teammates say, ‘Bro you look younger,’ so I feel happy with that.”

After an inconsistent first half in which he posted a 5.52 ERA, Rodriguez expressed confidence recently that he’d get back to himself down the stretch.

Friday was a very good start. Though Rodriguez did falter in Anaheim in his final outing before the break, he has a 2.83 ERA over his last five starts.

For Rodriguez, the key to his turnaround has been the return of the changeup as a big weapon.

“He threw back-to-back-to-back changeups to [Gleyber Torres] and we haven’t seen that in a while with him,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “That’s what it’s all about. He has confidence with all his pitches and now it’s just a matter of going out there and performing.”

But the changeup has typically served as Rodriguez’s best offering. And the inconsistency of it in May and the first half of June explains why he was in such a rut.

“I was comfortable with the changeup since I started baseball, even when I was a little kid I feel like I could throw that changeup in any count,” said Rodriguez. “That’s how much trust I have in it, 3-2, 2-2, I feel like if I locate the changeup it’s going to work. So that’s how it’s been for me, you guys have been seeing it a lot.”

Rodriguez credits the work he did with pitching coach Dave Bush a few weeks back on a side day when he used the Rapsodo machine to help him key in on reducing the speed of the pitch from the high 80s to the low to mid 80s.

Rodriguez threw 25 changeups on Friday, averaging 85.3 mph.

“Four or five starts ago against the Yankees, the first changeup I threw was like 84, 83 [mph] and now I tell [catcher Christian Vázquez] every time he’s behind the plate, ‘Bro, every time you see a changeup up there 88, 89 just slap me in the face or tell me something,’ because I feel like that’s working [at a slower speed],” Rodriguez said.

The Boston bats allowed Rodriguez to pitch with a lead for most of the night. Christian Arroyo highlighted a three-run top of the third with a two-run homer to right-center.

“He just kind of mixed and match and we just didn't pressure him. You know, we didn't, we couldn't mount anything enough to really, ever really put them in any significant trouble,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone. “So it allowed him to, obviously with a lead, be super aggressive. And I think he just pitched with a lot of confidence.”

The Red Sox didn’t accomplish much after that against Jordan Montgomery, but they didn’t need to. This was thanks to Rodriguez and a strong effort by the bullpen, which included a three-inning save by the team’s No. 6 prospect Tanner Houck, fresh off a call-up from Triple-A Worcester.

Houck swings back into action
While Houck has mainly been a starter through college, in the Minors and in his limited experience with the Red Sox, his most valuable role down the stretch for Boston might be as a swingman.

Houck warmed up for his upcoming start against the Blue Jays on Wednesday with a dazzling effort in which he threw 49 pitches and topped out at 96.5 mph with his fastball.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it for the rest of my life, I don’t want to take anything away from this team,” Houck said. “Whatever they call upon me to do, that’s what I’m going to do. I’ll step up and do whatever role they need me to do.”