Errant offerings spoil solid start from Rodon

Orioles capitalize with two big hits against otherwise sharp left-hander

April 30th, 2016

BALTIMORE -- Left-hander Carlos Rodon gave the White Sox seven good innings Friday, but there were two pitches he'd like to have back. The second of thoses pitches resulted in a three-run homer hit by Nolan Reimold in the seventh that handed the Orioles a 6-3 victory over Chicago.
Overall, Rodon gave up six runs (four earned) on eight hits in those seven frames. A two-run single from Jonathan Schoop in an error-plagued fifth inning accounted for his other errant offering, as five Baltimore runs scored on those two fateful Rodon pitches.
"I felt fine," he said. "I thought I threw well, but sometimes things don't go your way."
White Sox manager Robin Ventura also was impressed with how Rodon (1-3) threw. The 2014 first-round pick struck out seven in the loss.

"Other than [the seventh], he was spot on," Ventura said. "He pitched well."
Rodon was strong from the start, setting down the first 11 Orioles batters, and he didn't run into trouble until two White Sox errors helped Baltimore rally in the fifth.
The miscues -- a fielding error from second baseman Brett Lawrie and a throwing error by shortstop Jimmy Rollins -- helped the Orioles score three runs and take a 3-1 lead. Two of those runs came on the Schoop single.

Chicago scored a run in the sixth, and Lawrie tied it with a leadoff homer in the seventh off Brad Brach. Rodon breezed through the sixth before giving up two singles to start the seventh.
That put runners at first and second with no outs, and the White Sox expected a bunt. But Reimold lined a homer to right on the first pitch to snap the tie.
"You make a mistake like that late in the game, and you're going to pay for it against these big league hitters," Rodon said. "Honestly, I thought he was going to bunt, but now that I think about [it], I remember going through the scouting report, and he's a guy that has good power the other way. Sure enough, he showed it on that pitch."
The Orioles were not able to do much against Rodon except for those two swings of the bat, and Rodon's work also caught the eye of Orioles manager Buck Showalter.
"That's the type of people you pick third in the country," Showalter said of Rodon, the third pick in the 2014 Draft. "I remember looking at him in the Draft and knowing that he wasn't going to be around when we picked. He's impressive. He's tough."
Worth noting
• Avisail Garcia suffered a right mid-hamstring strain running out the last play of Friday's game. He is considered day to day and will be re-evaluated Saturday.