BOSTON -- Eduardo Rodriguez, who perhaps should start going by the moniker of “Steady Eddie” instead of E-Rod, did what manager Alex Cora called on him to do 24 hours earlier and saved the homestand on Sunday afternoon.

Behind their ace lefty, the Red Sox salvaged a split of this four-game series against the Mariners by grinding out a 5-3 victory. In fact, they split all three series to finish 5-5 in what was a season-long homestand. In so doing, Boston got back to .500 at Fenway Park (8-8) as it embarked on a six-game road trip against the Mets and Rangers.

Now 14-9 on the season, the American League East-leading Sox are 4-0 in Rodriguez’s starts and 10-9 when everyone else starts.

With the club looking completely out of sorts in all facets on Saturday, Rodriguez did what he does best and steadied the ship with another strong outing. Over seven innings, Rodriguez struck out eight and scattered six hits and three runs with no walks.

“That’s what aces do, right? They put their team on their back and carry us to a ‘W,’” Cora said. “It didn’t start well, but the fact he’s throwing so many strikes and getting swings and misses is good. He was able to elevate with the fastball and use his cutter and the changeup, and gave us seven strong.”

This marked the 32nd consecutive start dating to May 4, 2019, that Rodriguez went at least five innings. To show you what kind of company Rodriguez is keeping these days, the only two pitchers in the Majors with a longer current streak in that department are 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber (37 starts) and Justin Verlander (33).

“I mean, that's the goal of a starting pitcher,” Rodriguez said. “I think I learned the hard way, because I was going 4 2/3 and four innings most of the times back in the day. I've got to say thanks to those veterans who were here with me, and the one who is still here, which is [Chris] Sale. They helped me a lot, they’ve been pushing me all the time even AC [Cora]. I mean, those guys helped me to get to this point.”

Veterans like David Price and Rick Porcello now watch proudly from afar as Rodriguez has embraced all the responsibilities that come with leading a staff.

At 28 years old, Rodriguez is on top of his game, even after missing all of 2020 due to COVID-19 and a subsequent heart condition (myocarditis).

While Rodriguez used to excel mostly because of his stuff, he now thrives due to his pinpoint command of that stuff. In 23 innings this season, he is 4-0 with a 3.52 ERA and has yielded just two walks to go with 26 strikeouts.

“It's been big for me with the command that I have now, that I can throw every pitch with confidence,” Rodriguez said. “That's what I think is a big improvement that I have in my career is that I can go out there and throw every pitch with confidence, to have success with every pitch that I throw.”

Never did that serve Rodriguez better than on Sunday, when he went to warm up with longtime batterymate Christian Vázquez prior to the game, and he could tell that he didn’t have that much power behind his throws. In fact, Rodriguez topped out at 93 mph and averaged 91.8 mph with his two-seamer and 91.2 mph with his four-seamer on Sunday.

“I will say at the beginning of my career, I was just trying to throw hard and that's when I’d give up a lot more runs because I was missing spots,” Rodriguez said. “I learned that from my teammates from the old guys and veteran guys like Porcello, DP, when they were here, too, that even if you don't have that power on the fastball, you’re going to try to locate whatever you have. That’s how I did it today. I knew my fastball wasn't there, so I was trying to locate those fastballs right where me and Vazqy want it.”

Nobody has had a closer look at the leap Rodriguez has made than Vázquez.

“Now, he looks like he dots everything,” Vázquez said. “High fastballs, cutters backdoor, front door, sinkers, all those pitches. I think that’s what pitchers do. Good pitchers dot all their fastballs, all their pitches.”

And not only is Rodriguez a good pitcher -- he’s the best the Red Sox have right now.