Rodón, White Sox Falter in Deciding Game

Former NC State ace Carlos Rodón came out of the bullpen for the Chicago White Sox in the decising game of their best-of-three playoff series against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday, but he failed to record an out in his team's season-ending loss

Carlos Rodón was hoping to salvage something positive from an injury-plagued 2020 season when he was named to the Chicago White Sox's playoff roster earlier this week.

Instead, it turned out to be just more of the same.

It was short. And it was disappointing.

The former NC State ace faced just three batters in the deciding game of his team's best-of-three wild card round series against the Oakland Athletics on Thursday and he left without retiring any of them.

He was charged with the tying and go-ahead runs in a season-ending 6-4 loss.

Rodón was the fifth of nine pitchers used in the game by Chicago manager Rick Renteria. He came into the game with two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the fourth after a two-run homer by Sean Murphy cut the White Sox lead to 3-2.

Leadoff hitter Tommy LaStella worked Rodón for a walk after working the count full and fouling off two pitches. 

The former first round draft pick then ran into some bad luck when his catcher Yasmani Grandal dropped the first pitch he threw to Marcus Semien. The pitch appeared to be over the plate, but umpire Ted Barrett was distracted when Grandal fumbled it and called it a ball.

Flustered, Rodón fell behind in the count 3-0. After a visit to the mound by Renteria and throwing a strike, Semien laced a double down the left field line to put runners on second and third. Pinch hitter Chad Pinder was intentionally walked before Rodón was lifted in favor of Matt Foster, who promptly walked the next two hitters to turn the 3-2 lead into a 5-4 deficit.

He was spared the loss when the White Sox rallied to tie the game in the fifth. But the Athletics answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to close out the series.

Rodón was been bothered all season by a shoulder problem that limited him to just four games. He was ineffective in three of them, finishing with an earned run average of 8.22. 

The 27-year-old, who missed most of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, was the 2012 ACC Pitcher of the Year before leading the Wolfpack to the College World Series the following season. He finished his college career as State’s career leader with 436 strikeouts.

You can follow us for future coverage by clicking "Follow" on the top righthand corner of the page. Also be sure to like us on Facebook & Twitter:

Facebook -- ACC Insider

Twitter -- @WolfpackMaven and Brett Friedlander at @BFriedACC