Rodriguez nabs Minors-best 15th win
The Phillies prospect won his seventh straight start to extend the Minor League lead with his 15th victory Saturday as Clearwater held on for a 5-4 triumph over the Daytona Cubs.
Rodriguez (15-6) gave up three runs on two hits over five innings to remain unbeaten since June 29. He walked two and struck out seven and climbed within two wins of the team record, set by Andrew Carpenter in 2007.
The right-hander, who turns 21 on Aug. 29, really made just one mistake. After retiring 12 of the first 13 batters he faced, he started the fifth inning by issuing back-to-back walks to Matt Cerda and Michael Burgess. One out later, Jake Opitz homered to give the Cubs a 3-1 lead.
The Threshers answered in the bottom of the inning as Jiwan James drove in a run with a groundout, Jeremy Barnes tied it with an RBI single and Sebastian Valle gave his batterymate the lead with a run-scoring double.
Valle singled in a valuable insurance run in the seventh, and Jordan Whatcott pitched around two hits and a walk in the ninth to record his seventh save.
Rodriguez, the Phillies' eighth-round pick in the 2008 Draft, has three more wins than any other Minor Leaguer. He leads the Florida State League with a .192 opponents' batting average and ranks second with 126 strikeouts, trailing only teammate Trevor May.
Wins have come in bunches for the native of Puerto Rico, who began the season 5-0 before losing three straight starts. He bounced back with a three-game winning streak, then lost three starts in a row before beginning his current run of seven victories.
Since his last loss, Rodriguez has given up 11 earned runs on 27 hits and 12 walks while fanning 46 over 41 2/3 innings.
Daren Smith is an editor for MLB.com.