Every five nights, the hope rises anew that Carlos Rodon is going to break out, pound the zone with his fastball, devastate hitters with his slider, and flash the changeup just enough to keep hitters honest, in a complete outing that announces his reign of terror over the AL.
1. And then there was Tuesday night, where Rodon’s command was a wreck from the start and until the merciful end of the fifth inning and his woeful outing. He gave up two hits, walked a guy, and needed a forceout at home to escape the first inning scoreless. This was his best inning.
Habitual tormentor Chase Headley nuked a two-run home run to left in the second, Austin Romine capped Rodon’s day with a solo shot that went even farther to left in the fifth, and otherwise Rodon did his best to scatter 12 hits over five innings, about as well as one could hope to scatter 12 hits over five innings. A Tim Anderson error in the second added an unearned run to his tab.
2. Rodon will get criticized for being wild in the zone, but really he was just wild in general, and his attempts to work from behind were largely fastball over the heart of the plate in really predictable counts. He’s the Yankees at this point: when he’s working ahead, few, if any are better at closing things out. But once he’s behind in the count, his lack of arsenal that he can trust dooms him frequently.
3. Rodon’s struggles were rather muted in their impact by the Sox being completely eviscerated by Masahiro Tanaka. Brett Lawrie drilled a one-out single in the second inning, and was pushed to third by an Alex Avila double off the left field wall. However, that scoring threat was snuffed out when Avisail Garcia swung and missed at three splitters in the same spot, and J.B. Shuck‘s fliner to left field found Brett Gardner‘s glove. When Jose Abreu and Melky Cabrera traded singles in the sixth, that was quickly ended when Cabrera staggered into Mark Teixeira on a Todd Frazier grounder to start an inning-ending double play..
Other than that, Tanaka danced through seven and two-thirds scoreless innings softer than the most velvety pudding.
4. Getting obviously demolished by the fifth inning sure allowed the Sox to rest the important part of their bullpen. A day off for the beleaguered Nate Jones and two days off for David Robertson!
Chris Beck surprisingly weaved his way through two scoreless innings, and Michael Ynoa…did not accomplish the same feat.
5. Robin Ventura got the most grim form of validation for using Garcia as the designated hitter, as Avila left the game after aggravating the same hamstring that put him on the disabled list. He is set to be re-evaluated tomorrow, but Dioner Navarro could be headed back to full-time catching duties for a while.
This would be a good time to remember that Kevan Smith has yet to return to action since tweaking his back while warming up for his major league debut, and Hector Sanchez was claimed on waivers.
Team Record: 43-41
Next game is Wednesday vs. New York at 7:10pm CT
Lead Image Credit: Caylor Arnold