Carlos Rodon ties AL record in White Sox’ victory

Carlos Rodon had some kind of start to his final start of 2016.

The 23-year-old left-hander struck out the first seven batters he faced in the White Sox’ 7-3 victory Friday night at U.S. Cellular Field, tying the American League record set by Sox right-hander Joe Cowley on May 28, 1986, at Texas.

Rodon fell one strikeout shy of the the major league record to start a game, eight, by the Astros’ Jim Deshaies in 1986 and the Mets’ Jacob deGrom in 2014. Rodon struck out the last three batters he faced in his 11-strikeout performance Sunday at Cleveland, giving him a run of 10 strikeouts in a row overlapping two games, the most since Dodgers closer Eric Gagne in 2003.

“It’s nice, I wasn’t expecting it this soon,’’ Rodon said.

Logan Schafer ended the streaks with a double to right with one out in the third. Rodon limited the Twins to one hit through five innings before the Twins touched him for three runs (two earned) in the sixth, his final inning. He finished with 10 strikeouts while walking three over six innings.

In his final two starts, Rodon struck out 21 over 14 innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits. He finished with a 4.04 ERA. He has four career starts with 10 or more strikeouts.

“Coop [pitching coach Don Cooper] told me one thing a while ago, ‘you’re going to take lumps and give lumps,’ ’’ Rodon said. “It’s a learning process. Hopefully it turns into something great.’’

Rodon used a fastball that touched 98, slider and changeup for strike three, getting Brian Dozier, Jorge Polanco and Robbie Grossman all on sliders in the first. He struck out Miguel Sano, Kennys Vargas and Eduardo Escobar in the second and John Ryan Murphy leading off the third.

“This was some electric stuff,’’ manager Robin Ventura said. “He’s a horse and when he has his slider working it’s a devastating two-strike pitch.’’.

Tim Anderson and Melky Cabrera each had three hits and two RBI. Anderson hit his ninth home run and fell a double shy of hitting for the cycle.

Rookie catcher Omar Narvaez hit his first career homer. Jose Abreu drove in his 99^th run with a double. Cabrera has 85 RBI.

The Sox (78-82) have won six of their last seven games with two left in the season.

Saladino has herniated disc

Infielder Tyler Saladino, whose first full season effectively came to an end on Sept. 21, has a herniated disc, the White Sox revealed Friday.

Saladino received an epidural on Monday and is feeling better but the pain was “crippling” for a couple of days when the team was in Cleveland last weekend, he said.

Surgery is not a consideration now.

“Those first few days, I really was out of commission,’’ Saladino said Friday. “I kind of was just trying to find a comfortable spot and stay there. Standing up, it would catch. It was pretty painful. That’s how I know it was a little bit more.’’

After batting .225 over 68 games as a rookie last season, Saladino improved to a .282/.315/.409 slash line over 93 games this year. He hit eight homers, drove in 38 runs and stole 11 bases and played all four infield positions plus left field.

Saladino will stay in Chicago until he is reevaluated by doctors, he said.

“As of right now, it’s been feeling better every day,’’ he said.