Rodriguez (knee) struck out three and walked none over three scoreless innings in a minor-league game Saturday, Chad Jennings of the Boston Herald reports.
Rodriguez was making a final push to get himself ready for the first turn of the rotation in the regular season, but the Red Sox backed off that plan and will have him begin the season on the disabled list. Boston has three off-days over the first nine days in April and can give Rodriguez some extra time to build up his pitch count.