Angels defeat White Sox in Carlos Rodon’s final tuneup

ANGELS 5, WHITE SOX 4

Rodon’s final tuneup

Opening Day starter Carlos Rodon wasn’t on top of his game in his two innings Friday, allowing a three-run home run to Mike Trout after yielding a walk and a single to open the first inning in Tempe, Arizona.

Rodon had planned to throw three innings after reaching 100 pitches between his most recent start and extra throws in the bullpen, but the high volume of pitches cut it back to two.

Rodon didn’t have his best command with his slider and allowed four hits, struck out three and walked two. His spring ERA is 5.65.

‘‘I needed to get [my slider] in the strike zone earlier than I did,’’ he said. ‘‘When I started dropping them in, they started swinging at the ones in the dirt.’’

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Like everyone else, Rodon is more than eager to be done with Cactus League games and to start playing for real.

‘‘We are all ready to get this thing going,’’ he said. ‘‘I love Arizona, but I think it’s time to head to Kansas City now. Just ready to get out there under the lights and ready to start this thing.’’

He’s hot

Leury Garcia followed a 4-for-4 day with two more hits, including his second homer. He’s batting .438 with a 1.120 OPS this spring.

He’s not

Daniel Palka, the Sox’ home-run leader in 2018, struck out all three times up. He’s 3-for-28 with no homers and 16 strikeouts this spring.

Minor-league tiebreaker

For the second time in a week, the Sox (8-17-2) lost in the ninth inning under the minor-league extra-inning tiebreaker — a runner starting the inning at second — this time with Hunter Schryver (three walks) pitching.

On deck

Sox at Dodgers, Glendale, 2:05 p.m., whitesox.com, Manny Banuelos vs. Rich Hill.