BOSTON — Eduardo Rodriguez threw 68 pitches in a simulated game Saturday at Fenway Park, an outing that puts him in line to throw 75-80 pitches in a rehab start Thursday for the Portland Sea Dogs. If that rehab assignment goes as expected, he could return to the Boston rotation five days after that.

“He felt like today he could continue on,” Red Sox Manager John Farrell said. “He didn’t feel taxed from a physical standpoint. He was able to maintain some arm strength.”

Rodriguez last pitched on June 1, the day he slipped and fell in the bullpen and suffered another subluxation of his right knee. It was the same injury that cost Rodriguez the first two months of the 2016 season after a fall during a spring-training fielding drill. The lefty then pitched to an 8.59 ERA in his first six starts and had to be demoted to Triple-A Pawtucket, struggles he attributed to uncertainty about the stability of his knee.

To alleviate similar uncertainty this time around, the Red Sox have fitted Rodriguez with a knee brace and have put him through agility drills to assure him his knee has healed.

“The fact that he’s had this now multiple times, I think he’s had more experience at it, as crazy as that sounds,” Farrell said. “The fact that it’s happened multiple times, he can tell when he’s gaining that stability and is maybe not as reluctant to be the normal force with his delivery.”

DAVID PRICE was a bit cryptic late about his departure from his start Saturday night. He threw 103 pitches through six innings, a natural point of departure for a pitcher coming back from an injury. But TV cameras caught Price summoning pitching coach Carl Willis into the tunnel behind the dugout after the sixth inning, and Price himself did little to diminish the intrigue.

“There’s a lot of stuff going on right now,” he said. “You don’t want it to linger into the next start or two to three weeks from now.”

Price denied that his departure had anything to do with his elbow or with the blister that has hampered him in recent weeks but declined to go into further detail.

On Sunday, Farrell offered some clarification: Price developed a cracked fingernail on the middle finger of his left hand and left the game so as not to exacerbate it.

He’s still expected to make his next start on Thursday.