Rodón makes return: 'We gotta pitch better'

Carlos Rodón's return to the mound was not an altogether successful one, as the White Sox southpaw took the loss during Cleveland’s 5-3 victory Tuesday night at Progressive Field. Coupled with Cleveland’s 4-3 win earlier in the day, the White Sox were swept in the doubleheader.

Rodón had Tommy John surgery on May 15, 2019, and had not pitched in a Major League game since May 1 last season at home against the Orioles. The southpaw allowed three runs in the first inning Tuesday night -- meaning White Sox starters have yielded 13 first-inning runs over four losses -- punctuated by Carlos Santana’s two-run blast. Rodón settled down to strike out four in 3 2/3 innings, but he departed in the fourth after walking the bases loaded with two outs.

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“Their approach seemed like when I got ahead two strikes, you could tell any time they saw spin, they were laying off,” said Rodón of the walks. “They took some good pitches. They made me work. Tip your cap to that. With two strikes, I need to finish them.”

“The big thing was just continue to attack,” White Sox catcher James McCann said. “First live game against an opponent, he got into a better attack mode as the game went on. Even in the inning he got pulled, he attacked the strike zone and used all three of his pitches.”

Oscar Mercado followed the walks by connecting for a two-run single off of reliever Steve Cishek, who also pitched in Game 1, giving Adam Plutko extra room to work. Mercado also made a great catch to take extra bases away from Zack Collins to end the eighth and keep the potential go-ahead run from coming to the plate.

Plutko, who effectively is Cleveland’s sixth starter, held the White Sox to solo home runs from McCann and José Abreu over six innings. Abreu’s home run was the 180th of his career with the White Sox, leaving him eight away from being in the top five in franchise history. He had three hits in the nightcap and four for the doubleheader.

Tuesday’s action was the 1/12 mark of the 60-game season for the White Sox. They have played Minnesota and Cleveland, the American League Central’s top teams, but have not exactly been on their level, with a 1-4 record through five games. But much like his postgame refrain from Game 1, manager Rick Renteria won’t give into worry.

"My personality, I don't panic very much. I'm not much of a panicker,” Renteria said. “What I will say is I went into the clubhouse and said, 'Hey guys, keep your heads up. We've got to keep playing and tomorrow's another day.' It's just baseball, and everybody knows that once you start running a little hot, a lot of things are forgotten. But we've got to do it in order to forget what we want to forget."

“It’s frustrating -- whether it’s a 60-game season or a 162-game season, you want to get off to a good start,” McCann said. “Obviously, the pressure is a little bit more in a 60-game season. We know there’s a sense of urgency. With that being said … we could just as easily reel off five or six wins in a row. “

To make that run, the White Sox starting pitching will have to improve, beginning with Lucas Giolito in Wednesday night’s series finale. These pitchers are still building up to some extent after Summer Camp and a previous 3 1/2-month layoff, but no White Sox starter has reached six innings in five games.

“[Dallas] Keuchel had a tremendous start and that kind of picked us up,” Rodón said. “Now it’s time for us other four to do our job, eat innings, get ahead of guys. We are the heart of the ballclub. We gotta pitch better, that’s for sure.”

“If you really think about it, the first three weeks of the regular season right now are like the last three weeks of Spring Training,” McCann said. “But whether it’s a starting pitcher, a hitter, a relief pitcher, there’s going to be some bumps along the road. You’ve got to find a way to overcome that.”