Just a year ago during Opening Week, Carlos Rodon was hard at work in Triple-A Charlotte, patiently awaiting his opportunity to start for the White Sox.
His first Opening Series start in the major leagues was not without a few blemishes, but overall was sparkling.
Sonny Gray was awaiting this day as well, only for him, it should have come two days sooner, having been originally slated to start on Monday. In his 2016 debut against the White Sox, he struggled with his release point early on and issued a lead off walk to Adam Eaton, before becoming locked in for the evening.
Rodon suffered from his own control issues in the early goings of the game, and gave up back to back singles to Billy Burns and Khris Davis in the first inning before recording an out. Rodon finally recorded his first out of the evening, a flyout off the bat of Jed Lowrie, scoring Burns for the first Oakland run of the night.
Rodon would go on to give up a first-pitch rocket home run off the bat of Mark Canha in the second inning to make the score 2-0. This would be the last run that Rodon would allow on the evening, as went on to strike out the next two batters and quickly gained his focus.
Since Mark Canha’s solo homer, Carlos Rodon has retired 11 of 13 with five strikeouts.
— Dan Hayes (@CSNHayes) April 7, 2016
The White Sox reciprocated with a run of their own, unfortunately their only score of the evening. After a hard hit, lead-off double by Austin Jackson, Jimmy Rollins would eventually hit a sac-fly to score him, bringing them within a run.
Back on the mound in the third inning, Rodon looked much more composed, locating well in the strike zone, issuing his nasty slider, and despite the early control issues, not issuing a walk until the sixth inning to Danny Valencia.
Sonny Gray was also dealing after a mildly rough start, sending the White Sox down in order in the top of the fourth and hardly looking back.
After a lead off single by Adam Eaton to start the sixth, Gray would issue his first walk of the evening to Todd Frazier with two outs, but Melky Cabrera quickly grounded out to end the inning, stranding both runners.
Both Rodon and Gray’s evenings would end after completing 7 innings, relinquishing duties to their respective bullpens.
John Axford would take over for Oakland, and after replay review confirmed a call on an Adam Eaton infield single, courtesy of a poor Marcus Semien throw to first, Jimmy Rollins would ground into a double play. Jose Abreu hit a hope-inducing line drive to right field with two outs but Todd Frazier followed with a fielders choice to end the inning. Close, but no cigar.
Jake Petricka, who came on to relieve Rodon, issued couple of walks sequenced between two outs and a mound visit, before finally striking out Canha for the final out of the eighth inning.
Familiar rival Ryan Madson came in to take over in the top of the ninth inning, and after Cabrera singled on a line drive in the hopes of sparking a late inning White Sox rally, Madson retired the next three batters in order, punctuated with a nasty change-up to get Avisail Garcia swinging for the final out and giving Oakland their first victory of the season.
Not the best offensive effort from White Sox, and though they did manage to make some noise on the bases, they were unable to bring the runners home. With the first few innings behind him, Sox fans got a true glimpse into what this season may hold for Carlos Rodon, and if it’s anything like what he was dealing from the third inning onward, it’s going to be fun watching him every fifth day.
The White Sox will wrap up this series in Oakland tomorrow at the Coliseum with Mat Latos making his White Sox debut against Kendall Graveman. The game begins at 2:35 CT and will be aired on CSN in Chicago and broadcast on WLS radio.
Photo courtesy of John Hefti-USA TODAY Sports
Anybody miss Josh Phegley? Serious question.
I don’t miss the Phegley who was in Chicago, but I’m interested in this Phegley dude playing for Oakland.