Wednesday night in Chicago, Carlos Rodón threw the second no-hitter of the season and first for an American league club in an 8-0 White Sox victory over the visiting Cleveland Indians.
The left-hander tossed nine scoreless innings without walking a batter, losing his bid for a perfect game on a hit batter with one out in the ninth inning.
7,148 fans were on hand to witness Rodón’s entry into baseball history. It was the 20th no-hitter thrown by a White Sox pitcher in franchise history, second-most among major league teams behind the Dodgers (23). The feat came just five days after Joe Musgrove twirled the first no-hitter of the season, and the first for the Padres franchise, in a 3-0 win at Texas, fanning 10.
Rodón began the night by getting the first three Indians’ batters on weak outs, a soft fly to left, a ground ball to short and a pop foul nabbed by catcher Zack Collins. The Sox responded with a six-run first inning that included a three-run bomb by rookie Yermin Mercedes, who was 3-for-5 on the night running his batting average to a solid .500 (19-for-38).
Rodón threw 75 of 114 pitches for strikes, fanning seven in the process. He was an equal-opportunity hurler, getting 10 outs on fly balls and 10 on ground outs. Improving to 2-0 on the season, he retains the lowest ERA in the majors, 0.00. In his initial start on April 5th, he tossed five innings of shutout ball at Seattle, walking three and striking out nine in a 6-0 win.
The White Sox evened their record at 6-6 with the win and are 1/2-game back of the 6-5 Indians in the AL Central division. Kansas leads the Central with a 6-4 mark, 1/2-game up on Cleveland.
The four-game series heads for the finale Thursday at 2:10 pm ET in Chicago. A win would give the White Sox a three games to one edge. Cleveland hopes to tie the series at two games apiece.