When left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez struck out the United States’ Byron Buxton with a two-strike changeup in the championship game of the World Baseball Classic, the Diamondbacks came to attention.
“I thought, ‘Well, we got it,'” said Arizona manager Torey Lovullo, who was texting with D-backs pitching coach Rick Kaplan during the game. “We’ve got to find that pitch for him.
“Make him keep throwing it.”
He has. Rodriguez (1-0, 1.96 ERA) gave up one hit in 4 1/3 scoreless innings to help Venezuela to the WBC title on March 17, and the changeup has become a greater part of his repertoire this season.
Rodriguez, who is 5-0 in his career against the Chicago White Sox, is to face Sox left-hander Anthony Kay (1-0, 2.60) in the second contest of a three-game series in Phoenix on Wednesday.
The White Sox clubbed four homers, including Munetaka Murakami’s ninth of the season and fourth in as many games, in an 11-5 victory Tuesday. They have 11 homers in the last three games and have won three of four.
“He makes the adjustments that he needs to,” White Sox manager Will Venable said of Murakami. “Obviously, he’s having a lot of success. We’re seeing really good plate discipline. Obviously, the power is incredible. He’s a guy that is getting more and more comfortable every day.”
Rodriguez’s unenviable task is to slow Murakami down.
Rodriguez has thrown the changeup about 34% of the time in his first four starts, almost double its usage rate that in his previous nine seasons, according to Fangraphs. He also has thrown more curveballs, a pitch he developed last season, while cutting back on the fastball.
“It’s not really the changeup,” Rodriguez said. “It’s how I get to the changeup. Sometimes I use it more because that’s what the games tells me to do. It’s more about executing all the pitches. It’s about the mix.”
Rodriguez did not give up an earned run in his first two starts and won his third outing before receiving a no-decision the last time out, when he gave up a season-high four runs in five innings of an 8-5, 10-inning Arizona victory at Baltimore.
“The pitch for me that’s making a big difference is the changeup,” Lovullo said. “He came back with an eagerness to throw it. He’s getting a lot of real good weak contact or swing and miss.
“He’s got a great feel for the baseball. Better than anybody I’ve seen, he and Merrill (Kelly) can throw it where they want to and at the speed they are looking for. The change has allowed him to be a pitcher.”
Rodriguez last faced the White Sox on June 23, 2025, when he threw six scoreless innings and struck out 10 in a 10-0 victory. It was his 11th career start against them.
Kay picked up his only victory of the season with 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 2-0 decision at Kansas City on April 9, his second start.
The win broke the White Sox’s three-game losing streak and an even longer streak for Kay, whose last major league victory was June 24, 2021, when he threw five scoreless innings in Toronto’s 5-0 decision over Baltimore.
Kay spent the 2024-25 seasons with Yokohama of the Japan’s Central League.
Like Rodriguez, Kay uses a changeup in a fastball-slider mix.
“The story for him is really the off-speed stuff in the zone,” Venable said.
–Field Level Media
