Rodón impresses in All-Star duel vs. Burnes

Left-hander strikes out 7 in solid start before Giants fall to Brewers in 10th

July 15th, 2022

SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants left-hander Carlos Rodón and Brewers right-hander Corbin Burnes will suit up as National League teammates for the 2022 All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium on Tuesday. But the two aces found themselves on opposite sides of the field Thursday night, matching up for a highly anticipated pitchers’ duel at Oracle Park.

A low-scoring affair ensued as expected, though Rodón and Burnes had both departed by the time the battle was decided on Jonathan Davis’ perfectly placed two-out infield hit in the 10th inning, which saddled the Giants with a 3-2 loss.

Davis broke a 2-2 tie in the 10th by bouncing a 66.8 mph dribbler down the third-base line that scored pinch-automatic runner Christian Yelich and allowed the NL Central-leading Brewers to take the opener of a four-game series. Giants closer Camilo Doval took the loss after throwing a career-high 41 pitches over two innings.

“That’s a pretty significant workload for Doval,” San Francisco manager Gabe Kapler said. “Doval’s our guy, so we gave him the opportunity, and he delivered. Sometimes you deliver and a dribbler down the third-base line beats you, which was ultimately the difference in the game for them, and for us.”

It was a deflating loss for the Giants, who appeared to be building some much-needed momentum after winning four of their previous five games. San Francisco is now 11-19 in one-run games this year -- a significant drop-off from the 31-17 mark the club posted in such contests in 2021.

Rodón was coming off his first complete game of the year against the Padres on Saturday, but he had to grind to get through five innings against the Brewers, giving up one run on eight hits while throwing 99 pitches. Milwaukee put at least one runner on base in each of Rodón’s five frames, though he limited the damage to a fourth-inning sacrifice fly by Andrew McCutchen.

“In this particular case, I thought he pitched as well as he could have,” Kapler said. “Unfortunately, they drove his pitch count up and he wasn’t able to continue.”

Rodón fell into a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second after the Brewers opened the inning with three consecutive singles, one of which was a popup that fell between rookies Luis González and David Villar in shallow right field. Still, Rodón came back to strike out the next three batters he faced, putting a finger to his lips in a shushing motion as he walked off the mound.

“I was just relieved I didn’t give up a run,” said Rodón, who ended the first half with a 2.66 ERA over 18 starts.

Rodón faced the minimum three batters in the third, but he labored through a 35-pitch fourth after the Brewers again loaded the bases with one out. McCutchen’s sac fly cut the Giants’ lead to 2-1, but Rodón coaxed another flyout from Willy Adames to end the inning.

Rodón opened the fifth with back-to-back strikeouts of Mike Brosseau and Hunter Renfroe, but he was tested again after Victor Caratini and Luis Urías singled to put a pair of runners on with two outs. Rowdy Tellez followed with a deep drive to center field, but Mike Yastrzemski made a leaping catch at the warning track to keep San Francisco's one-run lead intact.

“I thought they put together some good at-bats and fouled off a lot of pitches,” Rodón said. “I would have liked to go longer in the game, but unfortunately, the pitch count was going up. They made me work and did a good job with that.”

The Giants recorded only four hits against Burnes, yet they still scratched across a pair of runs in the third. Yastrzemski led off with a walk, stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball to put San Francisco on the board. Burnes issued another free pass to Joey Bart, who came home on Joc Pederson’s two-out single to extend the Giants’ lead to 2-0.

Burnes struck out 10 over 7 1/3 innings and was taken off the hook for the loss after Adames tied the game with an RBI single off reliever John Brebbia in the sixth.

“We figured it was going to be a back-and-forth kind of pitching duel,” Kapler said. “They had a couple of good at-bats on Carlos that shoved his pitch count up pretty good. But Burnes was able to keep his under control, I think in large part because he was able to execute that cutter so well. It’s a really, really difficult pitch to lay off, particularly at the bottom of the zone and below the zone. He kind of executed it all night and made the biggest pitches when he needed to and obviously lasted deep into the game.”