With their old ace on the mound Thursday at Comerica Park, the Tigers turned to their new one. Eduardo Rodriguez is back. He mowed down the big-money Mets like flimsy singles, the latest sign that Rodriguez is worth the money for the Tigers. This is the pitcher they signed last winter to a five-year, $77 million deal. These are their overdue returns.
Riley Greene and Javy Baez hit back-to-back homers off Justin Verlander in the first, and that was all the help Rodriguez needed. He threw up eight zeroes with nine strikeouts to pitch the Tigers to a series sweep, his third scoreless outing of the season. He didn't record his third scoreless outing last season until his second to last start. Heck, Rodriguez picked up his third win on Thursday, something he didn't do last season until late August. Last season, of course, is one that Rodriguez would rather forget.
Pitching like this is one way to do it.
"It’s like cruise control," said catcher Jake Rogers. "It’s awesome. You call a game and you’re going with a plan and he just dots up. It’s pretty easy to just sit back and relax."
Rodriguez and Rogers are in rhythm. The result is hitters all out of whack. A.J. Hinch has paired them for Rodriguez's last four starts, over which time the left-hander has allowed one total run. Rogers is putting down the signs and Rodriguez is picking them up, one pitch after another. They knifed through the Mets with fastballs and cutters in the early going, mixing in changeups and sliders late. Rodriguez allowed two hits and three base-runners, one of whom Rogers wiped out with his arm.
"I throw the ball right where he wants it," Rodriguez said. "It’s building a lot of confidence between him and I, just to keep calling the pitches and I’ll throw it. And he knows what I want to throw, too, so it’s been really good so far."
Rogers, for his part, deflects the praise. Asked how much credit he takes for Rodriguez's surge, he laughed and said, "None. That’s all him, man." But take it from the former catcher in Hinch, who said Rogers and Rodriguez "have a really good thing going."
"So (Rogers) gets partial credit. Eduardo has the ball in his hand and has to execute, but that pitcher-catcher feel and getting him through a few stressful situations and getting him back into counts, when to go soft late, when to pound the fastball, stay on the plate, those are all things that the catcher can add to the pitcher’s day," said Hinch.
Rodriguez ended the fourth inning Thursday by striking out Tommy Pham on four straight changeups, for the 1,000th strikeout of his career. He said it's a milestone he's always wanted to reach, one that "means I’ve been in baseball for a long time." He kept the ball. It's a reminder not just of his longevity, but of his talent. Rodriguez, 30, has been a good big-league pitcher for a good while. The money the Tigers gave him was warranted. Indeed, it looked like a potential bargain for Detroit.
Then his life caved in. Rodriguez took a leave from the Tigers early last season to attend to a reported marital issue. The club placed him on the restricted list, meaning he wouldn't be paid during his absence. Combined with an injury on the front end, Rodriguez wound up being gone for three months. He had been somewhat detached in the clubhouse before that, a quiet worker who tended to go about his business by himself. He returned and pitched decently well down the stretch, but finished his first season in Detroit with a 4.05 ERA in 17 starts.
Rodriguez values his privacy, which anyone can respect. He spent most of his post-game interview Thursday nodding along to questions about his pitching performance. When his "family life" was broached, he quickly shook his head and said, "That’s fine, that’s no part of it. My part right now is just go out there and pitch, and that’s what’s working." There does seem to be a lightness to Rodriguez this year, a load lifted from his shoulders. Winning games certainly helps, but Rodriguez also looks more natural in his environment. He fits in.
"He’s been great," said Hinch. "He’s been engaged. Again, these guys are people first and when things are settled at home, I see a different version of these guys than just the player on the field, whether it’s engagement in the clubhouse, the interaction with teammates, the banter he and I have every single time that I take him out of the game. That stuff is the personality that can come when you have freedom when you’ve got some life balance. I’m proud of him for how hard he worked last season and then how hard he’s worked this season to re-integrate himself to our team."
For the second time in the past three weeks, Hinch met Rodriguez with a smile and a handshake Thursday as the pitcher entered the dugout after throwing eight scoreless innings at Comerica Park. Hinch knew Rodriguez wanted to keep going -- he's yet to throw a complete game in his career -- but he'd already tossed 100 pitches and his day was done. Hinch told him to "keep giving me that dilemma in the ninth inning," and they shared a laugh. At this rate, it won't be long before Rodriguez goes the distance. He's taking back the script after losing it last season.
Rogers, 28, wasn't around much last year as he recovered from Tommy John, but he's enjoyed getting to know Rodriguez this spring: "Ever since I started catching him a lot here recently, he’s been nothing but awesome. Around the guys, around me, he’s been great. He’s a good dude." He's been an even better pitcher, fifth in the majors in ERA (1.81) and WHIP (0.78) and tied for ninth -- with Gerrit Cole -- in batting average against (.176). He has 39 strikeouts to eight walks.
Rodriguez has allowed one run or fewer in his last five starts. He agreed that it's the best stretch of his career -- "I don’t feel like I ever had starts like that," he said -- and said the biggest difference is his command of the zone: "I feel like I’m able to control every pitch right where I want it for most of the (time). That’s what’s been working for me, every pitch, just right where I want it." He threw 102 pitches Thursday, 70 for strikes, 13 swinging.
"Again, a picture-perfect version of controlling the strike zone," said Hinch.
That's been the mantra for the Tigers under new president of baseball ops Scott Harris. And Harris will have a decision to make on Rodriguez later this season, a potentially huge one in the scope of Detroit's grueling rebuild: to trade him or keep him? Rodriguez has an opt-out in his contract after this season. If he's leaning toward going back to the market -- even if he's not --
it would behoove Harris to sell high at the deadline for the kind of young bats the Tigers are still looking for. He already seems to have found one in Justyn-Henry Malloy, acquired this winter for All-Star reliever Gregory Soto.
Then again, Rodriguez is leading the way for a young pitching staff in Detroit. He's pounding the zone and setting the tone, so maybe Harris should hold the phone. If the Tigers wanted a rock of their rotation, that's what they've got. With the Big Three -- remember them? -- injured and facing uncertain futures, there's a case to be made that it's worth keeping Rodriguez around, assuming he'd like to stay. We'll see. This much is clear: His performance this season is "important for us on so many levels," said Hinch.
"One, there’s a ton of confidence the day that he pitches that we have a really good chance to win," said Hinch. "That’s regardless of who’s on the other side. The other part of it is, soaking up these innings does wonders for your bullpen for the next four or five days. Knowing that this guy is definitely good for 6, probably gonna go 7 and gonna fight for 8 and 9, when you can say that about a pitcher, that's a real anchor of a pitching staff at this level.
"So that, and literally giving up no runs through a lot of stretches, is pretty cool to see."
Again, we'll see where this leads. Right now, it's hard not to feel good for Rodriguez, who has to be feeling better about himself. He said that when he signed in Detroit, his "vision was the same as it was with Boston: go out there and put zeroes on the board." He's put up 32 of them in his last 34 innings. He isn't quick to share his emotions, but Rodriguez admitted that it feels good to be pitching so well after pitching so sporadically a year ago and that "I’m satisfied right now, but I know the season is longer. So we just keep going and I’ll try to keep pitching."
"We just want a chance to win and keep the score as low as we can and when Eduardo’s doing this every week, it’s a little easier to win," said Rogers. "You can score one or two and win, so you can’t really beat it."
Right now, no one can beat Rodriguez.