Carlos Rodon’s no-hitter
Carlos Rodon’s great season had one extra special Chicago White Sox moment.
On April 14th, 2021, Carlos Rodon was getting ready to take the ball for his second start of the season. He won the job as the fifth starter in spring training and his first start of the season was going well. He just wanted to keep it up in his second start which came against the Cleveland Indians.
At the time, the 5-6 White Sox weren’t off to the best 11 game start in a year where they had World Series aspirations. Of course, early April doesn’t make or break a team but beating the 6-4 Indians to move to .500 was important to them. All of those factors made Rodon’s start here very important for it being an early-season game.
He decided to go out there and throw a no-hitter. It was so close to being a perfect game but Roberto Perez of the Cleveland Indians decided he wanted to let the ball hit his back foot which turned it into a no-hitter instead. For someone who dealt with so many struggles (injuries and poor performance) both on and off the ice, this was a great way to get his year started.
From that moment on, the White Sox season was changed. He went on to have a Cy Young level season and has been anything but a number five starter. This was one of the most fun and most important games of the 2021 season.