Of all the pleasant surprises this year for the Texas Rangers, who have managed to stay afloat while awaiting some reinforcements despite an awful start to the season, Wandy Rodriguez is one of the bigger ones, right up there with Delino DeShields.
Rodriguez was claimed off waivers from Pittsburgh and has basically been one of the more consistent starters for the Rangers this year since making his debut with Texas on April 24. This season, he's 2-2 with a 3.38 ERA and on Thursday he bounced back from his worst outing of the year to put together one of his best.
After giving up five runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings on Friday night against Cleveland, Rodriguez returned to the hill in Boston on Thursday night and worked 6 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on four hits.
"Really nice pitching by Wandy tonight," Rangers manager Jeff Banister told reporters. "Back to what we've seen except for the last outing — ability to move the fastball in and out. The breaking ball — the hard and soft breaking ball to keep the hitters off balance."
He'll get a chance at redemption on Tuesday against that same Cleveland team that touched him up on Friday, and he'll be doing it on the road in Cleveland.
