Los Angeles – Left-hander Carlos Rodon threw the 20th no-hitter in Chicago White Sox history, striking out seven batters in an 8-0 rout of the Cleveland Indians in the Windy City on Wednesday.
The 28-year-old, who lost his bid for a perfect game with one out in the ninth inning, pitched a gem, but the Florida native also got some timely hits from his teammates and a clutch out by first baseman Jose Abreu early in the ninth to preserve the milestone.
“That was awesome,” Rodon said. “A full team effort. I can’t believe it. I can’t.”
The White Sox have the second most no-hitters in MLB history, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 23.
Rodon flirted with a perfect game until a slider got away from him and he hit Indians batter Roberto Perez on the foot with a 1-2 count in the ninth inning. It would have been the fourth perfect game in White Sox history.
“It wasn’t meant to be,” he said. “I hit him on the top of the back foot. Lucky we got the no hitter. The rest is history.”
Rodon retired the first 25 batters he faced, throwing a total of 114 pitches in front of the pandemic-limited crowd of 7,100 at Guaranteed Rate Field stadium.
This was the second no-hitter of the young MLB season and the first for the White Sox since Lucas Giolito did it against the Pirates in August 2020.
Rodon’s no-hitter comes just five days after San Diego’s Joe Musgrove threw the first no-hitter in Padres history. Musgrove did it for his hometown team, which had been the only MLB club without a no-hitter.
After hitting Perez on the foot, Rodon regrouped and struck out Chang Yu-cheng for the second out of the ninth. Jordan Luplow grounded out to third baseman Yoan Moncada to end the game and spark a wild celebration on the field.
A collective gasp filled the stadium on the first out in the ninth. Abreu recorded an unassisted out by lunging with his foot to touch the base just ahead of a sliding Josh Naylor, who tried to beat out a ground ball hit down the first base line.
Rodon had a lot of praise for his teammates, especially Abreu.
“That play freaked me out,” he said. “Here is our MVP sliding in with that knee. Hats off to him.”
The White Sox exploded for six runs on seven hits in the opening inning against Cleveland starter Zach Plesac.
“He kind of overwhelmed us,” Indians manager Terry Francona said of Rodon. “When he’s good, he gets stronger as the game goes on and you saw him touch 99 (mph) on pitch 110 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.”
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Source : Baseball – The Japan Times