CLEVELAND — The White Sox won despite themselves Wednesday, thanks to a second good performance in as many outings from Opening Day starter Carlos Rodon. This one — six innings of one-run, two-hit ball with one walk and nine strikeouts — was excellent, and he needed to be the way the fumbling Sox defense continued to play in a 8-3 victory over the Indians and ace Corey Kluber.
More on the defense later. Rodon deserves top billing for overcoming it with a superb performance, easily outdueling Kluber, who was knocked out in the fourth inning. Sixteen swinging strikes was exhibit A that Rodon, who lowered his career ERA against the Tribe to 2.49, was on.
“The things that were evolving didn’t bother him,” manager Rick Renteria said. “His offspeed pitches had depth and fade, but more than anything for me, he kept his composure. That’s a key for him. He’s a little high strung — he wants to get things done — but he was able to manage his emotions.”
The Sox bats were also on. Third baseman Yoan Moncada continued to hit everything in sight, ripping a 439-foot homer to right field against Neil Ramirez in the eighth inning after walking twice and hitting a 410-foot double off the high wall in center field against Kluber. Moncada is batting .450 with two homers, three doubles, six RBI and nine runs scored.
“I feel very comfortable,” said Moncada, who has reached base in all five games and has been on base in 12 of 23 plate appearances. “All the work I put in during the offseason and spring training is paying off.”
Jose Abreu drove in three runs with a single and double off the right-field wall, raising his average to .314 and RBI total to seven in five games. Leury Garcia had the first four-hit game of his career, all singles, and like Moncada next to him at the top of the Sox lineup, scored three runs. And Eloy Jimenez singled through each side of the infield, hiking his average to .200 as he finds his way through his first week of major league pitching.
Kluber allowed six runs — four earned — on eight hits over 3 1/3 innings.
“You have to get him up in the zone,” Renteria said. “He’s a great pitcher. He was trying to find his feel and we were able to take advantage of what he didn’t have and were able to put points on board early.”
On the down side, Garcia ran into out in the first the Sox made three more errors, including two on one play. Moncada threw a ball away in the first inning on a Jose Ramirez ground ball leading to an unearned run in an inning in which Rodon struck out the side. Later, second baseman Yolmer Sanchez — 0-for-4 with three strikeouts and an .050 average — dropped a Ramirez pop-up in short right for his third error of the season. Garcia picked the ball up and had Jose Ramirez at second, but his throw deflected off shortstop Jose Rondon’s glove for another error.
“That’s going to happen,” Rodon said. “We’re all not going to be perfect. They’ll pick me up when I’m down and I’ll pick them up when they’re down. That’s what a team does.”
It’s going to happen, but as Renteria has said, it has to stop for the Sox (2-3), who have had four very good outings from their starters in the first five games, to be competitive.
After the Sanchez-Rondon double misplay, Rodon (1-1, 1.59 ERA) struck out Jordan Luplow and got two ground ball outs to end the inning and his day at 103 pitches. On a slider-heavy day, he got 16 swinging strikes.
“I didn’t have a good fastball, and the slider was a good pitch for me today,” Rodon said. “It kind of bailed me out.”
The Sox weren’t all bad on defense. Rondon made a good running catch near the tarp in foul territory and Sanchez went behind second base for a ground ball in the ninth inning to make a nice play.
Ryan Burr and Kelvin Herrera each pitched one perfect inning of scoreless relief. Nate Jones, continuing to struggle, allowed a harmless two-run homer to Hanley Ramirez in the ninth.
“That’s a good win,” Rodon said. “Hopefully it gives us some momentum and keeps us going.”
