LOS ANGELES — The last we saw the hero of the Red Sox’ 9-6 win in Game 4 of this World Series on Saturday night, he was disgustedly firing his glove into the pitching mound as the three-run homer he’d allowed was still sailing into the night.
To understand why Eduardo Rodríguez was ultimately so pivotal to the result–and to Boston’s 3-1 series lead, and to the fact that new rings will now almost certainly be theirs–we first need to review the state of affairs about 19 hours earlier.
By the wee hours of Saturday morning, Boston manager Alex Cora had exhausted every tactical trick he had to attempt to win Game 3 and to try to leave little doubt about the series’ ultimate outcome.