Eduardo Rodriguez placed on the 10-day disabled list with a knee injury

Just when everything was starting to look up for the Red Sox rotation, they get a piece of bad news. On Friday, the team placed Eduardo Rodriguez on the 10-day disabled list with a knee injury.

This is obviously a big blow for Boston’s rotation, that was finally at the closest it’ll be to full-strength all year and was looking like it was ready to go on a big run for the rest of the season. Right now, it’s unclear how long the young southpaw will be out for as he’s seeing Dr. James Andrews for more tests on the knee. It is the same one that held him out last season.

If you recall, Rodriguez took a fall while warming up prior to Thursday’s game in Baltimore and proceeded to look as bad as he’s looked all season. In postgame interviews, the lefty said the fall had nothing to do with his performance, but that’s looking like it probably wasn’t the case. He apparently came to the clubhouse today reporting discomfort and the team isn’t taking any chances.

The good(ish) news for the Red Sox is that they have an off day on Monday, meaning they can skip this spot in the rotation for one turn. They will need someone to make a spot start next Saturday, and unsurprisingly Brian Johnson appears to be the favorite to make it. Johnson, of course, threw a complete game shutout in his last major-league start before being sent down for David Price. Johnson is scheduled to pitch for Pawtucket this Saturday night, so it’s unclear how or if they will tweak his schedule to get him ready for Saturday’s start at Fenway against the Tigers.

Brandon Workman will be taking Rodriguez’ spot on the active roster for now. The 2013 World Series hero had been up for a chunk of May, but did not appear in any games during that stint. Workman has appeared in just one major-league game this year and in it he went three scoreless innings striking out two and walking one. The righty has a 1.72 ERA in Pawtucket this year with 19 strikeouts and 6 walks in 15 ²⁄₃ innings.

Obviously, the hope is that this will just be a ten-day stint on the shelf for Rodriguez, but we won’t know more until he gets back the test results. We’ll keep you updated on any news as it comes.