The legend of Eduardo Rodriguez is poised to grow Saturday as he takes the mound for the Arizona Diamondbacks in the finale of the season-opening series on the road against the Los Angeles Dodgers who are looking for a sweep.
Rodriguez tamed what many have considered the greatest lineup ever assembled when he opened with 4 1/3 scoreless innings for Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic championship game against the United States on March 17. Venezuela finished off a 3-2 victory.
Now the left-hander will go up against arguably the best lineup in the major leagues when he faces the Dodgers, who boast three MVPs in Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.
In his two starts for Venezuela (seven innings), Rodriguez had a 3.86 ERA with nine strikeouts and was inspired by the team’s fearless play. Venezuela went 3-1 in pool play, only losing to the Dominican Republic, then took down Japan, Italy and Team USA in elimination games.
“I learned a lot about the mentality of the game,” Rodriguez said, according to Arizona Sports. “I learned a lot from those two games that I pitched over there. I hope to use it in the regular season this year.”
Rodriguez hopes to improve on a 9-9 record and a 5.02 ERA in 29 starts for Arizona last season. In two starts against the Dodgers in 2025, he was 1-0 with a 6.23 ERA. He was crushed in a 14-11 loss at Los Angeles on May 9 before rebounding to pitch six scoreless innings in an Aug. 30 win, 6-1.
His career record against Los Angeles is 2-4 with a 6.06 ERA in seven starts.
After he did not play Thursday in the Dodgers’ 8-2 win because of a sore elbow, Pavin Smith made his season debut at designated hitter on Friday for the Diamondbacks and walked twice in four trips to the plate with a run scored.
But it was the Dodgers who had just enough to pull out a 5-4 victory on a Kyle Tucker RBI single to right field in the eighth inning. Alex Freeland scored the go-ahead run, and Freeland and Betts both hit home runs in the third inning.
“Everyone kind of rakes. Everyone puts up good at-bats all game long,” Tucker said of his new teammates, speaking on the SportsNet LA broadcast. “If we continue to grind out every at-bat, grind out every game, we’ll be in a good spot.”
The Dodgers will send right-hander Tyler Glasnow to the mound for his season debut after he went 4-3 with a 3.19 ERA in 18 starts last season, then had a 1.69 ERA in six appearances (three starts) during Los Angeles’ playoff run to the World Series title.
Glasnow took the loss in his only start against the Diamondbacks last season, allowing three runs on four hits in an Aug. 30 outing opposite Rodriguez.
The Dodgers will need an extended outing from Glasnow after the bullpen picked up 5 2/3 innings on Friday, with free-agent addition Edwin Diaz earning the save in his Los Angeles debut.
The left-handed hitting Freeman might see his first start in the No. 5 spot of the order since 2013 against the lefty Rodriguez. Manager Dave Roberts hinted at the new look for the lineup with the lefty-hitting Tucker now batting second.
“I think to start, yeah,” Roberts said of Freeman in the No. 5 hole. “I think a lot of times when I put together a lineup, I try to make it more difficult for the opposing manager to navigate.”
–Field Level Media
