Eduardo Rodriguez pitched one of the best games in his career.
“I had everything working,” he said.
The Detroit Tigers — following a 4-3 victory in Game 1 on Kerry Carpenter’s walk-off home run — beat the Cleveland Guardians again, 1-0, in Game 2 of Tuesday’s doubleheader. This time around, Riley Greene played hero with a go-ahead home run in the sixth inning.
Rodriguez, though, set the tone by completing eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts.
“Everything that we’ve talked about on how to be competitive and how to win starts with throwing strikes, and he pounded the strike zone relentlessly,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “That’s picture-perfect for what we want from our pitchers.”
The 30-year-old matched his career high for innings pitched, which he has accomplished four times, and racked up double-digit strikeouts for the first time since Aug. 4, 2021, at Comerica Park. Back then, Rodriguez faced the Tigers as a member of the Boston Red Sox.
“All my pitches were going right where I wanted,” Rodriguez said Tuesday. “I feel like today was one of those days that you just gotta go out there and pitch. I felt like I was pitching, rather than throwing, and that’s what I think was working today.”
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The Tigers (7-9), winners of five consecutive games, can sweep the three-game series in Wednesday’s finale with right-hander Spencer Turnbull making his fourth start. His matchup is right-hander Cal Quantrill.
In Game 2 of the doubleheader, right-handed reliever Jason Foley took over for Rodriguez and pitched a perfect ninth inning for the first save of his career. The 27-year-old finished the game by retiring Jose Ramirez on a swinging strikeout with a 91.4 mph changeup.
Ramirez finished 0-for-4 with four strikeouts.
“Getting to leverage helps,” Hinch said. “You may go the rest of your career covering sports and never see that again, where he misses four times and goes back to the dugout.”
Greene, 22, changed the scoreboard for the first time in the sixth inning against Guardians righty Peyton Battenfield, who completed six innings and now has thrown 10 innings in his MLB career.
Battenfield, 25, placed an 89.6 mph fastball on the outside part of the strike zone. Greene, who thrives on pitches around the outer third of the plate, didn’t miss the low-velocity heater.
He hit the ball 354 feet — with a 104.1 mph exit velocity — down the left-field line. The ball carried, and then carried some more, and eventually traveled into the left-field seats for Greene’s second homer of the season.
It put the Tigers ahead, 1-0.
“He found some balls early, which builds confidence, and then he’s not afraid to hit deep in counts,” Hinch said. “I know he’s frustrated with the strikeouts, but when you hang in there enough mentally, you can still do some damage at any given time. And I don’t even think he hit that ball great.”
E-Rod plugged in
In his fourth start, Rodriguez made eight shutout innings seem like an easy day of work at the ballpark. It was his best all-around start since signing a five-year, $77 million contract with the Tigers in November 2021.
Rodriguez primarily relied on his four-seam fastball, sinker and cutter, along with mixing in some changeups and sliders, while the Guardians failed to generate hard contact. Cleveland averaged a 77.9 mph exit velocity against him.
He struck out 10 batters without conceding a walk.
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Rodriguez allowed four hits.
Josh Bell hit a single on a third-pitch fastball in the second inning, followed by Gabriel Arias’ single on a second-pitch changeup in the third inning, Myles Straw’s single on a fifth-pitch cutter in the seventh inning and Oscar Gonzalez’s single on a second-pitch changeup in the eighth inning.
In the third, Arias was thrown out by catcher Jake Rogers trying to steal second base. In the fifth, Matt Vierling robbed Josh Naylor of a home run with a leaping catch while colliding with the right-field wall.
“As soon as he hit it, I was like, ‘Oh, this ball is out,'” Rodriguez said. “And it was going out, but he brought it back in.”
“I was a little deep,” Vierling said. “I was in the gap a little bit. I felt like I had a good jump and got a pretty good read on it. I went into it knowing I was going to get smoked by (the wall), so I just went all into and prepared for it.”
After Gonzalez’s leadoff single in the eighth, Andres Gimenez dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner into scoring position. Rodriguez responded by striking out Arias on six pitches.
Then, Jonathan Schoop helped him out.
Steven Kwan hit a sixth-pitch cutter back up the middle, and Schoop — the second baseman — ranged to his right and completed a sliding play to keep the ball from sneaking into the outfield. First baseman Spencer Torkelson scooped the ball, just before Kwan reached first base, to conclude the inning.
“I love every time my position players behind me make those plays,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the part of the game that I like to see all the time when I go on the mound. Sometimes, it’s going to be errors. Sometimes, it’s going to be good plays. Just step on the mound and keep pitching, but those kind of plays, I love it.”
Rodriguez threw 72 of 99 pitches for strikes. He generated 14 whiffs and 15 called strikes.
Cut down by Battenfield
Facing the Tigers, Battenfield allowed one run on three hits and three walks with five strikeouts, throwing 58 of 87 pitches for strikes. Battenfield wasn’t perfect, but his cutter flummoxed opposing hitters for 10 of his 11 whiffs.
He had 13 called strikes.
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After Greene’s home run, the Tigers couldn’t score another run. Right-hander Xzavion Curry entered out of the bullpen and worked around two hits in the seventh and eighth innings.
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold.