*Photo from the Japan Times*
Carlos Rodon was mere inches away from a perfect game. He hit Roberto Perez in the foot with two outs to go until he had the perfect game. I think Rodon is perfectly fine with getting a no hitter instead. Rodon threw the second no hitter of the season, Yermin Mercedes homered again, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Cleveland Indians by an 8-0 score Wednesday night.
The White Sox struck for 6 runs in the first inning off Zach Plesac of the Indians. Yoan Moncada hit an RBI single, Mercedes hit a 3 run homer, Leury Garcia hit an RBI double, and Nick Madrigal hit an RBI single. In the 3rd inning, the White Sox made the lead 8-0 on an RBI double from Luis Robert and Moncada was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Rodon said of throwing the no hitter postgame that "It's a pretty special moment. Not many people can say they've thrown a no-hitter in Major League Baseball. We always talk about it, it seems like. Any interview with you guys, it's like, 'Oh, there's been some ups and downs. What's it like to go through that, go through some adversity?' It just feels good to finally sit here and tell you, 'I dominated today.' And it felt good. I've never really done that. I've never done it on this level at least. It feels good to say, 'I did it.'"
Rodon threw 9 innings of no hit baseball, although he didn't exactly overpower the Indians offense, recording 7 strikeouts. With one out in the 9th inning, Rodon threw a low pitch to Perez, the Indians catcher, that just barely hit him in the foot, which ended the perfect game bid with just two outs left to get. That came right after Jose Abreu made a sprawling play at first base, just getting his foot to the bag to beat the runner and keep the perfect game going.
Rodon said of his start that "It's going to be hard to top this one. Lance Lynn said it a couple days ago, when he threw that complete game shutout. He goes, 'Baseball gives you 24 hours.' And then what's his name from San Diego(Joe Musgrove) threw that no-hitter. And then I come up and throw the no-hitter. Baseball's pretty humbling. It's that quick. It'll eat you, spit you out. And sometimes it'll reward you."
Plesac got the loss in this one for the White Sox, not even making it out of the first inning, getting shelled for 6 runs on 7 hits. It then became a bullpen game for Cleveland, with Trevor Stephan, Phil Maton, Cal Quantrill, Oliver Perez, and Bryan Shaw pitching in relief of Plesac.
Indians manager Terry Francona said of being no hit that "He kind of overwhelmed us. I think I had spoken before the game. … I said when he’s good, he gets stronger as the game goes. You know, you saw him touch 99 and throw 114 pitches, and his breaking ball got better and he even threw some changeups. He got into a rhythm and just got stronger as the game went."
The Indians and White Sox have their series finale today, with Aaron Civale starting for Cleveland, and Lynn starting for the White Sox.
Comments
Post a Comment