Back in 2015, Carlos Rodón made his major-league debut in less than ideal circumstances. He inherited two on with two out in the sixth inning of a game against Cleveland, issued a walk to load the bases, then gave up a two-run single to Ryan Raburn. Rodón only made two other relief appearances before he shifted to starting.
Rodón made his return to relief tonight under even tougher circumstances. The Indians loaded the bases in the seventh on three weak singles off Jimmy Cordero, which could be chalked up as bad luck if lefties weren't hitting .396 off him entering the game. Cordero recovered by getting a force out at home and a pop-out from Francisco Lindor.
That brought Cesar Hernandez to the plate, and that's when Rick Renteria went to Rodón for yet-to-be-determined reasons. It went similarly well, as he gave up a two-run single to Hernandez, and a two-run double to José Ramírez that gave the Indians 5-4 lead, and the four-game sweep.
If you're wondering whether Aaron Bummer was available, he pitched the eighth. He gave up a line-drive single to Franmil Reyes in his return to the mound, but settled down to retire the next three batters, one by strikeout. He looked fine. I can understand Renteria wanting to give him a clean inning with a controlled, deliberate warm-up period in his return from an injury. Rodón is the bigger issue.
However, that unfolded, it made the triumph of solving Zach Plesac short-lived. While Yolmer Sánchez tagged a hanging curve for a solo shot in the third, they finally solved him in the seventh after some 20 innings of being held down.
Delino DeShields Jr. assisted with some uncharacteristically sloppy play in center field. He got caught too close to the wall on a Yoán Moncada drive, allowing the carom to get past him for a leadoff triple. Moncada came home on a Yasmani Grandal grounder for a 2-1 lead.
By some miracle, the Sox weren't done. José Abreu drew a walk, advanced to third when DeShields couldn't haul in Eloy Jiménez's drive to the right-center warning track, then came home on Nomar Mazara's grounder through the left side. Jiménez followed him, but he jammed his foot sliding into the plate, and left the game afterward, foreshadowing some sort of doom.
Dallas Keuchel was in position for the win before the bullpen melted down, and the absence of one is the only thing he didn't get out of his start, which was a rousing success otherwise. He completed six innings for the first time since coming off the injured list, and in his classic style -- a few strikeouts (three), but more groundouts (six), which kept his pitch count reasonable (93).
He gave up four hits, only one of which was smoked, but the luck ultimately balanced out in his favor. Yasmani Grandal erased José Ramírez's first-inning double by picking him off second, and Cesar Hernandez's shanked slicer down the line hopped over the side-wall, resulting in a ground-rule double that kept Francisco Lindor at third, only scoring one run instead of two. Keuchel decided to go after Ramírez even with a base open, and Ramírez grounded out to short to keep the game tied at 1.
Keuchel completed the final three innigns without incident, and every out counted. After he retired Franmil Reyes with a first-pitch pop-up to end the sixth, his ERA dropped down to 1.99. That's something!
Bullet points:
*Moncada is now in a 3-for-37 slump, with all three hits triples.
*Ramírez went 5-for-12 with three doubles, two homers and eight RBIs during the series. If he ends up passing Abreu in MVP voting, he can thank the White Sox pitching staff.
