NEW YORK -- In the seventh inning of a 6-2 White Sox victory over the Yankees on Monday night at Yankee Stadium, Carlos Rodon threw 18 pitches and only five of them went for strikes.
Yet the Yankees did not score. It has been that kind of a stretch for the suddenly surging White Sox (52-79), who matched their season high with a fourth straight victory, and the southpaw emerging as their staff ace who is undefeated since July 5. The White Sox have a 10-3 record over their last 13 games and a 10-2 mark in their last 12 road contests. Even in the Bronx, where the White Sox have a 3-13 ledger since 2013, they were able to extend their winning ways.
"That was fun to watch from the bench, some of the offense," said Rodon, who improved to 6-3 after throwing 65 of his 107 pitches for strikes. "Fun to watch from the mound with the defense I had tonight. That was plus defense for sure."

"It was a really great team win. A lot of good things out there," White Sox manager Rick Renteria said. "Some good at-bats, some good baserunning. The relief finished it off. You can't complain about that game."
Rodon worked at least seven innings for the sixth time in his last nine trips to the mound. During that time, Rodon has allowed 32 hits and 13 earned runs over 63 2/3 innings, with 27 walks and 49 strikeouts. Rodon walked four and struck out two but allowed only two hits, including Gleyber Torres' 20th home run on a mammoth shot to center to give New York a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

"Rodon has been throwing the ball really well. We had a couple of opportunities there but really weren't able to mount much against him," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "Gleyber smoked the ball for the home run, but we got a glimpse of why Rodon has been having some success."
That lead did not last long. The White Sox loaded the bases with one out in the fifth via infield singles from Daniel Palka and Omar Narvaez and a walk to Matt Davidson before Yoan Moncada tied the game with a double to right-center off Masahiro Tanaka. Moncada jumped on the first pitch and tried to hit the ball back up the middle.

"In this situation I was just looking for a very good pitch to hit, just to put the barrel on the ball and make hard contact, solid contact," said Moncada through interpreter Billy Russo. "And like I said before, my focus in those situations is better."
Nicky Delmonico's sacrifice fly gave the White Sox a 3-2 lead, and Tim Anderson's double in the sixth scored Yolmer Sanchez for a little breathing room. Anderson tallied a second RBI in the ninth when he reached on Luke Voit's fielding error, and Anderson later came home on a strikeout-wild pitch.

It was one of those nights where everything seemed to work well for the White Sox. Those nights have come quite frequently of late.
"This month has been refreshing for us in the way we've been playing," Rodon said. "It's something to look forward to and just trying to carry it out the rest of the season and transition that into Spring Training and next season as well."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Don't walk this way: So how did Rodon escape the seventh-inning jam after walking Torres and Neil Walker on nine pitches and going 3-1 on Kyle Higashioka? Higashioka swung at a potential ball four and fouled out to Narvaez. Ronald Torreyes hit into an around-the-horn double play on a 2-0 offering, with Moncada making a slick turn at second.

"The inning before, I came out throwing pretty good in the sixth," Rodon said. "Got up in the seventh and we were trying to go in and missing in. I was cutting some balls off and kept missing in.
"Luckily I got a popup to Omar and that big double play. You don't want to just serve a cookie up there. I was trying to make a quality pitch in and got the ground ball and they had a hell of a turn."
YOU GOTTA SEE THIS
Anderson's defense once again was exceptional and game-changing. He took away a hit and maybe a run in the second when ranging deep into the hole at short and throwing out Higashioka on a one-hop throw to first with Torres on second. He also threw out Torreyes at the plate in the third after fielding Aaron Hicks' short-hop grounder.

Anderson made those plays in a spot Derek Jeter made famous for two decades with the Yankees.
"Yeah, I mentioned that earlier," Anderson said. "Just being able to share that spot that [Jeter] played, it's an awesome feeling now to take shortstop at Yankee Stadium."

HE SAID IT
"Well, I think if you ask him, he'll probably tell you he was trying to do too much instead of just continuing to roll along as he was. He was kicking himself after that inning because obviously he was doing a very nice job." -- Renteria, on Rodon's wild seventh inning

UP NEXT
Right-hander James Shields (5-15, 4.59 ERA) is scheduled to make his 29th appearance (28th start) of the season, 13th (12th) on the road and first against the New York Yankees on Tuesday with a 6:05 p.m. CT first pitch. Shields, who will be opposed by Lance Lynn (8-9, 4.84), also is making the 400th start of his career. Shields is 0-8 with a 6.13 ERA over his last 11 road games (10 starts). He earned his last road victory on Opening Day at Kansas City.