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ST. PETERSBURG — During a two-city road trip in which COVID-19 slimmed 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 (74-70 after an 8-6 win over the Tigers on Thursday).
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.
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.
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.
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.