Pack in the Pros
Rodon’s First Complete Game Wasn’t Enough
Former NC State pitcher Carlos Rodon pitched his first career complete game last night against the Angels, but it wasn’t enough for the win. He struck out 5 over 8 innings, and only gave up 2 earned on 2 solo home runs. Rodon becomes the youngest White Sox pitcher to pitch a complete game since Mark Buehrle did it back in 2001.
Carlos Rodon (age 22 y, 250 d): youngest #WhiteSox pitcher with complete game since Mark Buehrle (age 22 y, 160 d) 8/30/2001 (both CG Loss)
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) August 18, 2015
Despite the 2-1 loss, Rodon lowered his ERA .19 points last night, and has lowered it .58 points over the past two starts. Last nights performance was also Rodon’s 10th Quality Start of his rookie season.
In his last start, which also happened to be against the Angels, Rodon struck out 11 batters in 7 shutout innings. White Sox manager Robin Ventura was actually more impressed with last nights performance.
“Just command, getting through it, being aggressive,” said White Sox manager Robin Ventura. “He’s been good the last couple, and I know he was good the last time, but this one seemed like command-wise he was just grabbing it and getting going. That’s part of what we’re hoping to see a little bit more.” (MLB)
Rodon is now 5-5 on the year, has struck out 106 batters in 99.2 innings, and has a 4.42 ERA.