White Sox say Carlos Rodon done for the season, lose to Giants

By Brian Sandalow

Carlos Rodon throws during a game against Minnesota earlier this year. | AP

The news on Carlos Rodon wasn’t terrible. It wasn’t great, but it could have been much worse.

Lucas Giolito’s night, meanwhile, was plain frustrating.

About five minutes after the first pitch Friday in what was eventually a 9-2 loss to the visiting Giants, the White Sox announced that Rodon has been put on the 10-day disabled list with inflammation in his left (pitching) shoulder and will not pitch again this season. Rodon had been scratched before Thursday’s game with stiffness in the shoulder, He had an MRI exam Friday and will be re-evaluated next week and won’t go with the team on its trip to Kansas City.

“Just move on and try to get healthy,” Rodon said.

Said manager Rick Renteria: “We’re just being extremely cautious. Obviously a very important piece for us moving forward, and we’ll just see how it continues to progress as he settles into some downtime right now.”

Rodon, 24, who missed almost all of the first half of the season with bursitis in his upper biceps, had shown signs of becoming the starter the Sox expect and need him to be. After his season debut June 28, he went 2-5 with a 4.15 ERA overall, with a 1-1 record, 3.00 ERA and 45 strikeouts over his last seven starts — staking a claim on being a staff leader and possible Opening Day starter next year.

He struck out a career-high 9.9 batters per nine innings and had a personal-best 1.370 WHIP. He’ll end the season having thrown just 69⅓ innings.

“I’ll definitely be back to pitch next year. No doubt about that,” Rodon said. “Just try to get healthy and figure out the problem.

Assuming Rodon recovers fully, the Sox should still feel confident about a 2018 rotation that figures to include him, Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and — sooner or later — Michael Kopech.

But the Sox and Giolito have to hope things go better next year than they did Friday.

During his 5⅓ innings, Giolito had to deal with control problems and a defense that committed three errors. He ended up allowing five runs (three earned) and three hits while walking four, striking out five and throwing a wild pitch. He fell behind 3-0 in the fourth when he allowed a three-run homer to Pablo Sandoval that ended the third baseman’s 0-for-39 skid.

Giolito’s night ended in the sixth when he was removed after walking Hunter Pence on a close pitch that could have led to a strikeout/caught-stealing double play. As Giolito walked off the field, he yelled to home-plate umpire Gabe Morales and was ejected. Second-base umpire and crew chief Eric Cooper also ejected Renteria.

“Basically, I just told [Morales] that I wish he would have worked me a little bit better,” said Giolito, who was 2-0 with a 0.64 ERA and 14 strikeouts over his previous two starts. “I felt like I threw a few pitches that were clearly in the strike zone that he called balls, just throughout the night, especially that last one.”

Avisail Garcia hit a two-run homer in the fourth for the Sox.

Follow me on Twitter@BrianSandalow.