Rodón dominates in Sox walk-off loss in NY

Carlos Rodón pitched brilliantly during his start against the Yankees on Friday night in a playoff-like contest that ended in a 2-1 walk-off loss for the White Sox at Yankee Stadium.

How brilliant, you may ask?

Well, this six-inning, 95-pitch performance falls in the same sheer dominance category as the southpaw’s no-hitter thrown against the Indians on April 14 of this season. Rodón set a career high of 13 strikeouts, falling three short of Jack Harshman’s team record of 16 set in 1954, allowing two singles and not issuing a single free pass.

For the season, covering seven starts and 42 2/3 innings, Rodón has fanned 62 against 12 walks and 22 hits allowed while posting a 1.27 ERA. The pitcher everyone expected when Rodón was selected third overall in the 2014 Draft has been on display since the start of the 2021 season.

“Zack [Collins] and I worked pretty well tonight again,” Rodón said. “Fastball command was good, and slider showed up today. So that combo helped out a lot. Featured some changeups and kept them off-balance. Did well.”

“He’s been great all season. The talent has been there. He’s just been able to put it all together,” said White Sox first baseman José Abreu, through interpreter Billy Russo, of his pitcher. “Carlos has been doing what I knew for a long time he was capable of doing.”

Rodón recorded nine strikeouts using his wipeout slider, getting 11 of his 23 swings and misses with that pitch, per Statcast. Opposing hitters have two singles all season off Rodón’s slider, with 32 strikeouts.

“The pitch has always been good, it's always been my best pitch,” said Rodón, who matched a season high with 23 swings and misses overall. “But I think it has to do with the way we get to that pitch with the fastball and changeup. The three-pitch mix definitely makes the slider a lot better, a lot more effective.”

“It was just another outstanding performance, in this ballpark against that lineup,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “He was very sharp.”

New York’s only real scoring chance against Rodón came in the third as Miguel Andújar dumped a one-out single into right and moved to third when second baseman Nick Madrigal committed two errors on Brett Gardner’s line drive by dropping it and throwing it away.

But Abreu -- who returned to play his 1,000th career game after left ankle inflammation cost him all three contests in Minnesota -- made a nice grab of DJ LeMahieu’s grounder to first and nailed Andújar at the plate. Rodón struck out Luke Voit to end the threat.

“First of all, it was a hell of a play by Abreu at first to cut down a run, knowing the boys had my back, that defensive play,” Rodón said. “Tough play for Madrigal, that ball was hit hard, and he was turned around, a hard situation knowing where to go with the ball.

“Pito picked him up with the play, and we got out of it. I knew it was a situation where I needed a hard ground ball or a strikeout with a man on second and third. ... We got out of it."

Jordan Montgomery was equally as good for the Yankees, fanning 11 in seven innings, including Abreu with Yoán Moncada on second to end the sixth and pinch-hitter Yasmani Grandal with Andrew Vaughn on second to finish the seventh. Friday’s game was the first in the modern era during which both starting pitchers had 10-plus strikeouts while allowing no walks and no runs, per STATS.

These elite pitching performances served as a prelude to the big finish. Gleyber Torres’ home run off Michael Kopech in the seventh broke the scoreless tie, but Madrigal’s single with a 56.6 mph exit velocity off Jonathan Loaisiga scored Adam Eaton with the tying run in the eighth.

After the White Sox escaped a first-and-third, nobody-out situation in the eighth, they had their first-and-second, nobody-out threat in the ninth ended by a triple play against Aroldis Chapman. Vaughn hit into the around-the-horn result, with an exit velocity of 101.1 mph on the grounder.

“It was real tight, back and forth, and a very well-pitched game where there weren't a lot of opportunities,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.

Torres’ game-winning single was the third straight off reliever Evan Marshall in the ninth, dropping the American League Central-leading White Sox to 26-17 overall. Closer Liam Hendriks was warming up prior to Vaughn’s triple-play grounder, but La Russa planned to use him with a lead in the ninth or a 10th-inning deadlock.

“We battled and did our best,” Abreu said. “That’s the only thing you can control on the field. The outcome wasn’t the one we were expecting. But we played a good game.”