White Sox 6, Reds 1: Carlos Rodón passes one test

White Sox win

Carlos Rodón’s five innings weren’t dominant, but they were easy.

He allowed just a double and two walks while striking out four, and Luis Robert will probably say he should’ve made the play on the lone hit. He ran down the slicing liner on the warning track, but it clanked off the heel of his glove during his sliding attempt. He only needed 69 pitches, topping out at 19 in the fifth, so Hard Karl could take the night off.

The only thing that wasn’t good was his velocity, which topped out at 92.7 and averaged 90.9 on the evening. That’s not necessarily fatal in and of itself, because Rodón’s had a number of starts that show that his fastball doesn’t need to be high-90s to get unsuccessful swings, and the Reds’ efforts resulted in seven flyouts to Luis Robert over the first four innings before testing Eloy Jiménez and Adam Engel over the second half of the game. It’s just not a great indicator of his ability to make a next start.

But that can’t be determined right now. Of the business that could be settled, the White Sox handled all of it, taking both games from Cincinnati with convincing victories to improve to a season-best 23 games over .500.

This one featured a nice showing against credible right-handed starter Sonny Gray, thanks in large part to an attempt to go away from Gavin Sheets’ scouting report. After Leury García reached on an infield single to open the third — Max Schrock probably ranged too far away from first given the defensive alignment — Sheets took three curveballs and fell behind 1-2 as a result. The book says to stay low and slow with Sheets, but Gray instead tried to surprise him with a sinker. It stayed up — groin-high, inner half — and Sheets swatted it out to right for a 2-0 White Sox lead.

The same thing happened an inning later. With runners on first and second and two outs, Leury García ambushed a first-pitch fastball to score José Abreu and make it a 3-0 game. Up came Sheets, and Gray tried going by the book. He got ahead 0-2 on a look and a swing, but his next two secondary pitches — a curve and a changeup — bounced for easy takes. On 2-2, he came at Sheets with a fastball, and once again Sheets got the better of him, rifling a single to left to score Yoán Moncada for the White Sox’s fourth run.

Luis Robert generated a run by himself in the fifth, reaching on a single, stealing second, taking third on a tapper and scoring via #WILDPITCHOFFENSE. Tim Anderson then capped the scoring with the more traditional form of one-man offense, an opposite-field homer off Jeff Hoffman in the seventh for his 17th homer of the year.

Ironically, Mike Wright was the only part of this game that went wrong. He was tasked with preserving the shutout after Michael Kopech threw three scoreless innings in relief, but he alternated outs with hits, the second of which was a two-out double by Delino DeShields that scored Kyle Farmer to spoil the shutout. Tony La Russa then came out to make a pitching change out of spite, using Garrett Crochet to get Aristides Aquino to ground out to third despite being up five, and Wright having a pitch count of 15.

Bullet points:

*Abreu was plunked on the elbow again, his 22nd hit by pitch of the season. He shoved a single to right field in his final at-bat as he tries to work his way out of a slump.

*Engel went 0-for-3 with a strikeout in his first game back. He’s in the same position as Rodón, where we’ll have to wait and see whether he can answer the bell.

*The Sox only had four at-bats with runners in scoring position, but they went 2-for-4.

*The Sox are now within 1½ games of Houston, although two back in the loss column, which makes overcoming Houston’s tiebreaker edge harder.

Record: 91-68 | Box score | Statcast

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itaita

Miclos Ropech had a nice start. Velo really picked up after the 5th.

burning-phoneix

A win against a legit RHP? I’ll take it.

jhomeslice

Stone said Rodon was throwing where he wanted for the most part. Well located pitches are sometimes as effective as hard.

As long as he feels good, he’ll have a week and a half to rest before they need him. He lasted 5 very effective innings, which is a lot better than 2 or 3. Seemed like a pretty big positive even if he didn’t throw hard, given some alternate outcomes were avoided.

Brett R. Bobysud

The Astros have a game in hand on the Sox, which is Thursday against the Rays.

They then finish the season with 3 home games against the A’s, who were eliminated from postseason contention last night by the Mariners.

So even if the Astros lose the rubber match against the Rays, they would need to lose at least 2 games against the A’s this weekend for the Sox to have a chance at the 2 seed.

texag10

We’re not dead yet

Michael Kenny

Basically, the Sox and the Astros’ opponents need to win 6 games out of 7.

If the Astros win tonight, we need double sweeps. If they lose, we need the Sox to gain ground at least twice and not lose any ground.

shaggy65

ReyLo and Rodon both showed enough in this series to be on the postseason roster. Even if Carlos isn’t at his best, the choice between him and our other lefty starter with a diminished fastball is a no-brainer.

As Cirensica

I think both make the post season roster. Keuchel probably doesn’t.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

I don’t want to speculate on the specifics of who gets left off, but my guess is they find a way to fit both Lopez and Keuchel on the roster. Along with Rodon of course.

knoxfire30

Rodon’s results were good and I hope he can build some strength moving into the post season if his shoulder bounces back but we are kidding ourselves if anyone who watched the game thinks he wasnt tossing meat. 90-91 on the 4 seam fastball out and up over the plate for most of the start… you can maybe dodge some bullets vs a cincy team with nothing to play for and their best player sitting out but the Astros in a playoff game….. idk

HallofFrank

You have to widen the context. No one is convinced Rodón will be good (or even fine) in the playoffs based on last night’s game alone. But since he’s been back from the IL, with diminished velocity, he’s made 5 starts: 23 IP, 6 ER, 25 K, 6 BB. His season ERA and FIP have lowered since then. Two of the starts were against TOR and BOS. His BB% is a career-low. Command and control are improved. Even with diminished velocity, this isn’t 2020 Rodón.

Of course, this isn’t June-Rodón, either. He’s not going to dominate. But there’s a wide range of outcomes between “dominating” and “tossing meat.” He’s shown enough to suggest he can be effective even when he’s not at 95+ mph. The Astros will be a tough matchup, sure, but they will be against any Sox pitcher. Rodón is surely one of the best 3-4 bets right now.

knoxfire30

Totally valid. I just think you need the ace-like Rodon to dramatically increase your world series title hopes. An effective number 2/3 starter level rodon is fine but again the goal is ws title.

HallofFrank

Obviously, ace-like Rodón helps, but I don’t think the Sox “need” that Rodón to win the WS. Even with this Rodón, the Sox rotation stacks up well any in baseball, except probably the Dodgers. And we know how good the bullpen and offense can be. If Rodón’s playoff starts are something like 5 IP, 2 ER—not an unreasonable expectation, I don’t think—that puts this team in a position to win.

knoxfire30

I dont think the rodon we saw yesterday gives you 5 and 2… but I hope I am wrong. We’ve also been saying “how good the pen can be” for the entire season and it hasnt been bad but it hasnt been the elite pen we thought we would have on paper. Its hard to win it all and Rodon being down a couple pegs from where he was is tough cause we had the best starting rotation in baseball before he got dinged up.

HallofFrank

I think the bullpen has been the best in baseball? Kimbrel has been immensely disappointing, and Marshall & Bummer have been up and down, but everyone else has been as-advertised and Bummer appears to be back to his old ways. Anyway, I feel great about a tie playoff game in which the starters are out and the bullpens are fresh.

LamarHoyt_oncrack

Well said. You don’t hold a team to 1 hit over 5 if you are tossing meat. Maddux made a career out of well located pitches without impressive stuff.

soxygen

Carlos got good results and located his stuff, but that velocity was concerning. He got away with it against a Reds lineup that didn’t include Votto, Winker, Castellanos, Naquin…It was a start against a really bad lineup and should not give us comfort that he will pitch well versus Houston.