The perfect game club almost had a new member. A non-maker was ultimately the consolation prize. The White Sox starter Carlos Rodon threw a non-hitter and he was perfect through 8 1/3 innings. He hit Cleveland catcher Roberto Perez with a pitch on the foot with two strokes and one in the ninth. That would ultimately be the only flaw for Rodon.
“On a counter ball,” Rodon said after the game when asked where his head was at the moment, referring to where the field hit Perez. Here it is:
He threw the non-hitter in an 8-0 win over the White Sox over Cleveland Wednesday night on Chicago’s guaranteed tariff field. Rodon hit seven, got very poor contact and saw a couple of hard-hitting balls land gloves of teammates. In the case of hard-hitting balls, Jose Ramirez hit a line shot right on left-hander Andrew Vaughn to end the seventh innings. That was over 110 miles per hour and reached an expected batting average of .820 per Statcast. Rodon mentioned after the game that once the ball was caught, he felt something special was happening.
The final result was also well beaten. Jordan Luplow hit a base of 99.4 miles per hour, but third baseman Yoan Moncada had no problem with that, throwing it to first base to secure the no-no. It was a funky ninth place that included a very close game on first base to start the innings, with the call confirmed via video review.
Here is the last outing and subsequent celebration:
Rodon is now the second pitcher of 2021 to throw a non-hit, after Joe Musgrove, right-hander of Padres, did so on Friday. Remarkable here is that both pitchers were just a hit from a perfect game.
“I can not believe it,” Rodon said after apparently saying “Holy crap” under his breath. “I really can not.”
Rodon’s trip here is a little heartwarming. He underwent surgery in Tommy John in May 2019 and returned for a difficult 2020 (8.22 ERA in 7 2/3 overs). He was then not offered by the White Sox after the season, which is equivalent to ‘cut’. He sat on the free market until February 1, when he finally signed a one-year deal with the White Sox.
“Take a hike,” he said laughing when asked if anyone would tell him during his rehabilitation that he would be back and throw a non-hitter.
Prior to this season, Rodon had appeared in 97 MLB games. He was 29-33 with a 4.14 ERA and 1.38 WHIP. Although he did not have to be branded a bust, the talent that justified the White Sox to take him third overall out of the NC state in the 2014 draft has never quite worked through.
So far in 2021 it is.
Rodon’s first start was five innings against the Mariners, allowing just two hits and three runs while hitting nine. And now he’s adding a no-hitter to his ledger.
For the rest of the game, the White Sox had full control from the start. After Rodon retired three Cleveland hits for the first time, White Sox pitched Zach Plesac for the worst start to his career. He didn’t even come out of the first innings, and he allowed six runs (all earned) on seven hits in just 2/3 of an innings.
Plesac’s previous shortest start was 2 2/3 overs and the worst start to his career before Wednesday night occurred on 29 June 2019 when he coughed up seven runs on seven shots in 3 2/3 overs.
Meanwhile, the White Sox continued with the absurd offensive production of the newcomer Yermin Mercedes. His three explosion in the first is what opened the floodgates:
The 28-year-old slugger has now started 10 games in his career and collected at least three hits in a game four times. After going 3-for-4, he hits .514 / .561 / .838 with 10 RBI.
Mercedes and the White Sox’s offensive destruction of Plesac would have been the main story here, but Rodon rather stole the show.
The White Sox are the most prolific team not to run into the American league. Only the Dodgers with 26 have more non-hits than the White Sox’s 20. Rodon joins Bob Keegan, Joel Horlen, Joe Cowley, Wilson Alvarez, Mark Buehrle (twice), Philip Humber and Lucas Giolito as White Sox throwers after the integration to cast. a no-hitter, individually.
There have only been 23 perfect games thrown in baseball history, and Rodon has made it nearly 24. Do not let that factual achievement put a damper on the feel-good story here. Less than a year after the White Sox released him, Rodon threw a non-hitter.