Eduardo Rodriguez had an MRI that revealed a condition called myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle that is usually due to a viral infection. AP file photo
BOSTON — Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez said Sunday he is awaiting results of additional testing after doctors recently discovered an issue with his heart they believe is a result of his recent bout with COVID-19.
The 27-year-old left-hander tested positive for the coronavirus before the start of summer camp, but was cleared and returned to workouts on July 18.
He hasn’t had another test, but said an MRI revealed a condition called myocarditis, that the team’s medical staff felt was serious enough to shut him down for at least a week.
He’s been restricted from baseball activities since July 23.
“That’s why the doctors tell me to just take a week, just rest, don’t let your heart get too much heart rate,” he said. “If it goes away, just go back to work.”
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, myocarditis is an inflammation of the heart muscle that is usually due to a viral infection. The inflammation can lead to arrhythmias, cardiomyopathy or heart failure.
Rodriguez’s doctors told him that 10-20% of people who have had COVID-19 also have been diagnosed with myocarditis.
He said the experience was eye opening, but that having a mother who is a nurse has helped put his mind at ease.
“That’s the most important part of your body, so when you hear that, the first time I hear it was kind of scared a little,” Rodriguez said. “Now that I know what it is it’s still scary, but I know exactly what it is. Just talk to my mom, talk to my wife, they know what I have and everything. Now we just gotta take the rest. That’s hard, but you gotta take a rest.”
Rodriguez previously said that his bout with the coronavirus had left him feeling “100 years old” and that it took him about 10 days before he was able to do any light throwing. He said he’s currently not experiencing any COVID-19-related symptoms.
With David Price gone to Los Angeles as part of the Mookie Betts trade and ace Chris Sale missing the season following Tommy John surgery, Rodriguez had been in line to be Boston’s opening day starter. He posted career-best numbers in 2019 with 19 wins and a 3.81 ERA. But with him sidelined for opening day, those duties fell to Nathan Eolvaldi.
Rodriguez is unsure of how long it will take for him to be ready to pitch in a game.
“As soon as I throw the first ball, I’ll let you know. I need to know how my shoulder feels,” he said. “It could be more, it could be less. It depends how it feels the first time I throw the ball.”
REDS: Second baseman Mike Moustakas went on the injured list Sunday after he woke up feeling sick, and center fielder Nick Senzel was a late scratch from Cincinnati’s lineup for the final game of a series against the Detroit Tigers.
The moves came a day after Reds infielder Matt Davidson went on the injured list because he tested positive for COVID-19. Davidson was the Reds DH in their season opener on Friday night, when Moustakas drove in four runs for a 7-1 win.
Manager David Bell said Moustakas didn’t feel well when he woke up Sunday morning and was told to stay home as a precaution.
BLUE JAYS: Toronto won’t start playing in Buffalo until Aug. 11.
The Blue Jays will play their first scheduled homestand – July 29 to Aug. 2 – on the road in Washington and Philadelphia. Baseball began a 60-game season last week shortened due to the coronavirus pandemic.
ASTROS: Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander has a strained right forearm and will be shut down for at least two weeks.
Astros Manager Dusty Baker denied a report that said the injury would end Verlander’s season. He said Verlander would be evaluated after two weeks.
The 37-year-old Verlander had groin surgery in March but recovered in time to pitch for the Astros on opening day Friday with the season delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Baker said Verlander felt “tenderness” in his arm during his start on Friday, where he pitched six innings and got the win. He had an MRI on Saturday, and now he’ll miss at least roughly a third of this 60-game regular season.
SUNDAY’S GAMES
YANKEES 3, NATIONALS 2: The Yankees did not let Washington toot its own horn — the reigning World Series champs had an actual, honest-to-goodness trumpet in their dugout — because Gleyber Torres homered in the seventh inning and hit a go-ahead single in the eighth, in Washington.
On a sunny afternoon, with the temperature topping 90, the Yankees trailed 2-0 entering the seventh before the Nationals’ bullpen blew the lead.
New York took two of three games in the season-opening series.
INDIANS 9, ROYALS 2: Carlos Carrasco started again. His inspiring comeback from cancer is complete.
More than a year since being stricken with leukemia, Carrasco struck out 10 in six-plus innings and José Ramírez homered twice as Cleveland clobbered Kansas City in Cleveland to win two of three in the delayed season-opening series.
Ramírez hit a three-run homer left-handed in the fourth and added a solo shot from the right side in the sixth for the Indians, who finally put some solid swings together against Kansas City’s bullpen.
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