CHICAGO — Carlos Rodon finished a remarkable April on a strong note, striking out a career-high 12 in a 3-1 victory against the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of a doubleheader Thursday at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Dylan Cease followed with a three-hit shoutout in the nightcap, giving the Sox a sweep and moving them to 14-10.
It was the eighth-career double-digit-strikeout performance for Rodon, who allowed one run on two hits in six innings for the win in the seven-inning game. He surpassed his previous career high of 11 strikeouts by fanning JaCoby Jones for the first out in the sixth.
“It definitely feels good, I put a lot of work in to do what we’ve done thus far,” Rodon said. “Just try to keep building to the next start now.
“Right now I’m focused on what (the catcher is) calling and I’m just trying to execute the pitch.”
Cease then had his best outing of the season, striking out nine without a walk on 91 pitches. Yoan Moncada and Yermin Mercedes homered during a seven-run fifth inning.
Rodon improved to 4-0 and has a 0.72 ERA, allowing two earned runs on seven hits with 36 strikeouts and nine walks in 25 innings. The four April starts include the no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on April 14 at Guaranteed Rate Field.
“He’s showing a lot — the no-hitter, for one — but he’s showing a lot of gumption where he had to make a pitch to end the inning,” Sox manager Tony La Russa said.
The Sox scored three runs in the fifth inning to rally from a 1-0 deficit.
Jake Lamb singled and Andrew Vaughn and Zack Collins walked, loading the bases with no outs. Billy Hamilton hit a grounder to first, and Miguel Cabrera thought about throwing home but bobbled the ball. His only play was first, and Lamb scored to tie the game.
Leury Garcia followed with a two-run single to center, making it 3-1.
“A lot of what you see in some of these early struggles are just guys trying too hard,” La Russa said when asked about Garcia, who had a .189 average after Game 1. “They’re trying to force. You’ve just got to take good at-bats. He put the ball in play with a good swing on a good pitch to hit. Easy to say, hard to do.
“You’ve all seen it more than I have, and I’ve seen it some, he’s a really good player. When he gets going, he’ll be a tremendous asset for us.”
Cabrera represented the tying run, batting with one on and two outs in the sixth. Rodon got him to ground out to Garcia at second to end the threat.
“Facing Cabrera as the tying run, no day at the beach, and he made a great pitch,” La Russa said. “You can’t say enough good things except remind him there’s a lot ahead.”
Rodon exited after throwing 96 pitches.
“It just built off spring training, the work we put in the offseason, during spring it just carried over,” he said of the April success. “I just want to keep going with it, keep running with it.”
Sox closer Liam Hendriks struck out one in a perfect seventh inning for his fifth save.
The second game began after delay of 1 hour, 6 minutes because of rain in the area.
Cease was strong from the outset, striking out at least one batter in each of the first four innings. He struck out two in the second, third and fourth.
The Sox scored four runs in the second inning. Garcia and Nick Madrigal both knocked in one run with singles against Michael Fulmer, who entered in the second after Matthew Boyd exited with left knee tendinitis. Jose Abreu added a two-run single to give the Sox a 4-0 lead.
Garcia drove in two more with a single during the big fifth inning. Luis Robert collected an RBI with a single, Moncada hit a three-run homer to right and Mercedes hit a 449-foot solo home run to center.
Vaughn went 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs while Madrigal had three singles, one RBI and two runs as the Sox (14-10) took two of three in the series.
The Sox were without Adam Eaton for Game 2 of the doubleheader as the right fielder served a one-game suspension for an April 15 incident against the Indians. Eaton shoved Indians shortstop Andres Gimenez after being tagged out at second, believing Gimenez forced him off the base. The benches briefly cleared.
Major League Baseball handed down the suspension April 20, calling Eaton’s actions “aggressive” and saying he “incited” the benches-clearing incident. Eaton lost an appeal.
