The way Carlos Rodón is throwing these days, he only needed 77 percent of a game to set a new career single-game best.
Rodón has a new high in the strikeout column after fanning a dozen Tigers over six innings while allowing just two hits and a walk in another dominant effort. He ran his record to 4-0, and while his ERA rose due to one run on his tab, it's still a sparking 0.72.
The offense showed up late -- and it needed yet another assist from Detroit's defense -- but it eventually figured out Casey Mize well enough to give Rodón the support he needed.
Mize threw a complete game, but you could argue that's the problem. This was the third time the Sox have seen Mize in his young career, and they haven't been able to do anything through four innings. Once the fifth rolls around, it's a different story.
| Innings | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Through 4 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 14 |
| Afterward | 3⅔ | 7 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
And this game was no different. After mustering only one threat that the Billy Hamilton-Leury García part of the order snuffed out, wobbling control generated a better chance in the fifth, and the Hamilton-García combo ... came through?
Yes, it says here they did. After Mize loaded the bases on a Jake Lamb single and walks to Andrew Vaughn and Zack Collins, he once again tried to use the bottom of the order to right the ship. He got Hamilton to hit a firm grounder to first, where Miguel Cabrera had a pretty easy force at home in front of him.
Except he bobbled the ball and missed the opportunity to get Lamb, so he had to settle for the out instead. The White Sox at that point scored all three of their runs this series via a Tiger mistake, but García cashed in the two walks by lining a single to center that made it a 3-1 game. Rodón took the sixth, and Liam Hendriks pitched a 1-2-3 seventh for the save.
Before the fifth, the Tigers were the only team to put together decent plate appearance close enough together. Robbie Grossman led off the fourth with a single, stole second, then scored on Jonathan Schoop's two-out double inside third base for the only two hits on Rodón's tab.
The Sox only had one hit through four themselves, when Zack Collins led off the third with a double. That's when Hamilton came up with bunted him to third, but García had to swing for himself and struck out. Tim Anderson followed suit, and the Sox left the inning empty-handed. Fortunately, García made up for it later with the White Sox's only hit in eight at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Bullet points:
*Rodón threw 66 of 96 pitches for strikes and got 23 whiffs, once again having success with the changeup as his secondary pitch.
*Hendriks struck out one, so he and Rodón teamed up to fan more than half of the Detroit batters who came to the plate (13 of 24).
*Good thing Hendriks nailed down the save, because Tony La Russa lost the DH by moving José Abreu from DH to first, replacing Jake Lamb. He could've moved Andrew Vaughn there from left, especially since he replaced him with Luis González anyway.
