Rodón a K machine as Sox top rival Cubs

CHICAGO -- Saturday’s 4-0 White Sox victory over the Cubs at Wrigley Field was brought to you by the letter K.

• Box score

K, as in the baseball symbol for strikeouts, and strikeouts for starter Carlos Rodón, in particular.

The All-Star made his first start since allowing four runs in four innings during a loss at Kansas City on July 29, and he struck out 11 of the pitching staff's 17 in the game. He clearly benefited from the break from the mound, hitting 98.5 mph with his four-seamer in a first inning during which he struck out Rafael Ortega, Willson Contreras and David Bote.

“It was nice to get a few more days extra, and the velocity was there. It was good,” said Rodón, who picked up 19 swings and misses and topped out at 98.9 mph, per Statcast. “My arm felt better with the little extra rest like we planned on. It just worked out.”

“He's just really good,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “I caught a guy for a little while that's throwing upper 90s, and when you're commanding in to right-handed hitters and have got a pretty devastating slider to the back foot, and as much movement as he has … I thought we got in some decent counts, and he just made pitches.”

Ross’ squad didn’t make much contact, managing a Frank Schwindel single in the second and a Bote double in the fourth. But those decent counts drove up Rodón's pitch total and led manager Tony La Russa to bring in Michael Kopech after a leadoff walk to Ortega in the sixth.

There’s been a spoken desire to manage the innings for the entire starting rotation as the playoffs fast approach for the White Sox, which factored into Saturday’s decision along with the high humidity. But it mainly was a game call, with the White Sox clinging to a 2-0 lead at that point.

“He was working all five innings that he was out there, sweating,” La Russa said. “Plus it's a National League game, he had to go to bat two or three times. ... He didn't really get a chance to cool off.

“So it was all about not pushing him after what he had given us. And we had the right guy, we had Michael ready to go. I talked to him about going out for the sixth. He said he could buy some outs. But when he walks the first hitter, that's time to get him, and he agreed.”

Yoán Moncada ’s two-out, two-run double off Cubs starter Adbert Alzolay (4-12) gave the White Sox (65-46) a quick advantage. They didn’t pad that lead until the eighth, when César Hernández and José Abreu knocked out back-to-back homers against reliever Trevor Megill.

Hernández now has 20 for the season and has homered in two consecutive games. Abreu has 219 career homers, three shy of passing Harold Baines for third all-time in franchise history.

“That's the fruit of my work,” Hernández said through interpreter Billy Russo. “I've been working very hard to have a good season, to have good results. That's why I'm able to get those 20 homers."

The Game 2 victory guaranteed the White Sox a series win at Wrigley and increased their all-time series lead to 67-63 over the Cubs (52-60). La Russa also got Craig Kimbrel in for a scoreless eighth, after he yielded Andrew Romine’s three-run game-tying homer Friday in his return to Wrigley. But it was a game that seemed over early on behind Rodón’s sheer dominance.

Rodón has struck out 160 and walked 30 in 109 2/3 innings this season. It was Rodón’s fifth double-digit strikeout effort, but just his second since May 26, and his fifth start in which he has recorded 10-plus punchouts and yielded two or fewer hits.

“It feels very good to play behind him,” Hernández said. “It wasn't comfortable for me when I had to face him when I was in Cleveland. I can tell you it was kind of a nightmare. You can see how good he is and you're just trying to help him, too."

“He had good rest for this one,” La Russa said. “And he's proved when he's rested, it pays off.”