ST. LOUIS — If you spent the last 365 days living under a rock and happened to come up for air on Tuesday, it would have been no surprise to see Giants right-hander Dereck Rodríguez and Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty locking horns in a pitchers’ duel at Busch Stadium on Tuesday.
At this time last year, Rodríguez and Flaherty were chasing Ronald Acuña, Jr. of the Braves and Juan Soto of the Nationals in an epic Rookie of the Year race that ended with the Atlanta slugger narrowly edging out Washington’s teenage phenom.
Rodríguez tossed seven dominant innings of one-run ball against the first-place Cardinals on Tuesday, but while other members of his rookie class have built on their early success, nothing has gone in Rodríguez’s favor this year.