Carlos Rodon came into Tuesday’s game coming off of the best performance he has ever had. Last Wednesday, he threw a no-hitter that was one toe-ball away from being a perfect game. The Chicago White Sox knew that he wasn’t going to go all season without giving up a run and he wasn’t going to throw a second no-hitter. It was even fair to assume that he was going to struggle in this game for a few different reasons. However, Carlos battled hard and got the win for his team.
Carlos Rodon did what he needed to do to help the Chicago White Sox get a big win.
Carlos Rodon was the first pitcher since 2012 to pitch to the same team in his next game following a no-hitter. In fact, the Cleveland Indians put out the exact same lineup as they had in last Wednesday’s game. They even had Zach Plesac on the mound again. It was going to be a challenge for Rodon from the very beginning.
He definitely struggled with his command at times and that led to him having to work extra hard. He had multiple base runners on more than one occasion but always managed to get out of it. Cleveland didn’t really do a good job of taking advantage of Carlos having an off night.
Rodon’s final line showed that he pitched 5.0 innings while allowing three hits, two runs (one earned), five walks, and eight strikeouts. Outside of the walk total, it certainly could have been much worse based on the command that he was displaying. He didn’t have the off-speed stuff or his fastball working the way that we know he can.
It is, however, a great sign that he is able to grind out wins like this when he doesn’t have the best stuff. He is a player that looks healthy and ready to compete all season long. He deserves to win a game like this on the back of some luck and his team providing plenty of offense.
Getting through five innings really helped the bullpen be used a little bit less than they should have. They are probably going to have a bullpen day today for the most part so getting some quantity out of Carlos Rodon yesterday will certainly help with that.