Former White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon was on the wrong side of Yankees history on Saturday night. Rodon got the ball in Game 2 of the World Series, marking the hard-throwing left-hander’s first time pitching in the Fall Classic.
After escaping the first inning unscathed, Rodon ran into trouble in the second when Dodger’s centerfielder Tommy Edman sent a four-seam fastball 355 feet for a solo home run. Then with two outs in the third inning, Rodon served up back-to-back home runs to Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman. Yankees manager Aaron Boone lifted the 31-year-old from the game in the fourth inning but the damage had already been done.
In 3.1 innings of work, Rodon was tagged with the loss after allowing four earned runs on six hits with no walks and three strikeouts. In the process, he became just the second starting pitcher in Yankees history to allow three plus homers in the first three innings of a World Series game. Luckily for Rodon, he is in pretty good company. The only other Yankees arm to earn that distinction Catfish Hunter, in Game 2 of the 1977 World Series which was coincidentally also against the Dodgers. Hunter has since been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Rodon got his first taste of postseason baseball back in 2021 with the Chicago White Sox. It was a season where he had to scrap and claw just to earn a spot in the rotation after being non-tendered by the club during the offseason. At the time it seemed like Rodon’s career was at a crossroads. He didn’t garner much interest on the open market and had a career that had been plagued with injuries
In his six previous seasons with the White Sox he had only surpassed 100 innings in three of them. His lowest ERA to that point was the 3.75 mark he posted in 23 starts in his rookie year. But Hahn took a flier on him and Rodon used it as an opportunity to rebuild his stock and revitalize his career.
Twenty-four starts, 132.2 innings, 185 strikeouts, a 2.37 ERA and an All-Star appearance later Rodon was sitting in the White Sox dugout in Game 3 of the ALDS marveling at the raucous home crowd. It was the type of environment that many of the White Sox players had been waiting for for several seasons. Rodon would get his first postseason opportunity a day later in a do-or-die Game 4 of the ALDS. He failed to make it out of the third inning, allowing two earned runs on three hits in 2.2 innings.
While the 2021 season ended with a bitter taste, the season as a whole helped set up Rodon for future success. It helped him earn a two-year $44 million deal with the Giants. After making a second consecutive All-Star appearance and top-six finish in the NL Cy Young voting he parlayed that into a six-year $162 million deal with the Yankees.
Four of his five postseason appearances have come with the Yankees with at least one more opportunity to redeem himself this postseason.
