CHICAGO -- Carlos Rodón didn’t pitch during this past Tuesday’s All-Star Game at Coors Field, choosing instead to rest and replenish for the White Sox run after a dominant first-half effort.

It looks as if Rodón made the right decision, based on his sheer dominance during a 4-0 victory over the Astros Sunday afternoon before 34,148 in attendance at Guaranteed Rate Field. Rodón, pitching on 12 days' rest, only allowed one hit against Houston -- an Abraham Toro single to right in the third, barely eluding Danny Mendick’s diving effort -- as he struck out 10 over seven innings and 98 pitches, improving to 8-3 and lowering his ERA to 2.14.

Although Rodón enjoyed the festivities in Denver and enjoyed talking to future Hall of Famers and perennial All-Stars, he had no qualms about not throwing an inning in a predetermined decision.

“I wanted to save it for the second half because it’s more important,” Rodón said. “The honor of being an All-Star is a big deal. Hopefully, if it happens again, maybe next time. … We all have a common goal here. The wellbeing of the team is more important than individual honors. Those are nice, but like I said before, I think our goal is the postseason.”

“Obviously, he pitched well enough to be an All-Star in the first half. But that's why there are two halves,” said White Sox reliever Michael Kopech, who threw a perfect eighth on Sunday. “He wants to continue doing what he did in the first half in the second half and give us a chance to be really competitive going into October, and hopefully through October. That carries over to all the guys in the clubhouse.”

Rodón set a new franchise record for most consecutive starts (10) with eight or more strikeouts with his 10-strikeout performance. Rodón's streak of starts with eight or more strikeouts is the longest in the Majors this season, having two more than Cleveland's Shane Bieber. He topped out at 99.3 mph on the four-seamer, per Statcast, and averaged 97 mph with that pitch.  

Sunday’s victory also marked the seventh time in Rodón’s 16 starts this season where he held an opponent to two hits or less. This outing had a little extra meaning, coming against one of the best offenses in baseball and an Astros squad that had won the first five matchups of ‘21.

“We needed this,” said Rodón, who also recorded his 11th career double-digit strikeout game and fourth this season. “We needed to take this series and prove that we can beat them and that we are just as good as them.” 

“People are going to look at results -- the fact we won two out of three, but we were ready to play,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “We played well, we pitched well and they’re really good. Whatever the numbers are, they are.” 

Tim Anderson homered for a second straight game, extending his hitting streak to 15 to match a career high. Anderson also has scored a run in 11 straight games, and his 11 straight games with a hit and a run scored set a new franchise mark in that particular category. Yoán Moncada went deep for the first time this season while batting right-handed and broke a streak of 117 plate appearances without clearing the fences.

The White Sox moved 20 games over .500 for the first time since Aug. 26, 2008. That ‘08 team followed with five losses in six games, although it eventually won the AL Central, marking the organization's last division title. But with a 56-36 record and a commanding lead in the division, that benchmark only looks like the beginning for this year’s squad.

Pitching is the key to keeping that run going, and the White Sox certainly have shown off their strong arms over this weekend series against the AL West-leading Astros (56-38). Lucas Giolito’s complete game on Saturday was followed up by Rodón’s masterful work Sunday, with Kopech extending his consecutive batters retired streak to 12 straight over four outings and hitting 100.2 mph with his fastball for good measure.

"Yeah, I would love to be a part of the staff, but right now, we've got five guys that are going out there and doing [well] every time,” Kopech said. “To come in and be able to pitch behind them and maintain [the] lead that they kept us with whenever they came out, I think that's just as rewarding.

“We've got one of the best five-man rotations in baseball right now, if not the best. I know that's bold, but I think we've shown that.”