BALTIMORE — It’s one thing to overpower hitters with 95-mph fastballs at the top of the strike zone or buckle their knees with bat-slowing offspeed stuff straight out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
Plenty of big-league pitchers can do that.
It’s quite another to stand on the mound in a road ballpark, fans on their feet, go-ahead run on second base in the middle innings of a scoreless game, and blow away a four-time All-Star on three consecutive pitches.
That’s special.
Eduardo Rodriguez is special. The Baltimore Orioles knew it when they swallowed hard and dealt him to the Red Sox for closer-in-waiting Andrew Miller at the trade deadline last year, and they most certainly know it now after he shut them out for six innings here last night.