Rodon's 10 Ks Not Enough, White Sox Lose to Rangers

Texas 2, Chicago 1

A night after teammate Chris Sale struck out 13 to beat the Texas Rangers, Carlos Rodon struck out a career-high 10 in six innings while allowing only one run.

Unfortunately for the third player chosen in last year's draft, the White Sox managed only one run and lost to Texas 2-1 in 11 innings on Thursday night.

"He talked to Chris a lot," Chicago catcher Tyler Flowers said. "They have similar arsenals. Especially coming off Sale's game yesterday, I know they communicated a fair bit."

Rodon even struck out Rangers rookie Joey Gallo twice in three at-bats. Gallo had hit a home run in each of his first two major league games, but finished with just a single and an intentional walk in four at-bats Thursday.

"I charted Chris yesterday, and he pitched Gallo mostly sliders," Rodon said. "So we went at him with sliders, and then you can sneak a fastball by every once in a while, especially up and in a little bit."

After nine runs behind Sale, the White Sox offense found mostly disappointment. Chicago didn't score in the first inning despite loading the bases. The White Sox finished with 10 left on base, even though they didn't put a runner on during the extra innings.

"We had plenty of opportunities, and it could have been won on both sides earlier," White Sox manager Robin Ventura said. "We got to be able to get a hit and knock in a run with guys in scoring position."

The Rangers finally got that hit with one out in the 11th.

Shin-Soo Choo's groundball single to left field beat Chicago's defensive shift, passing to shortstop Alexei Ramirez's right as he tried to scramble back from his temporary position near second base.

Leonys Martin scored the winning run from second. He led off the inning with his third single and advanced on Hanser Alberto's sacrifice.

Dan Jennings (1-2) was the losing pitcher.

Ventura said, "With Martin, he put it in the middle of the zone, and he got on base. After that, they were the ones putting the pressure on."

Chicago lost two of three games against the Rangers. The White Sox went 5-6 on an 11-game road trip that ended with the loss.

Chicago had tied the game 1-1 in the fourth. Avisail Garcia reached base on Gallo's throwing error, went to third on Ramirez's single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gordon Beckham.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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