Couldn't White Sox manager Robin Ventura have found a little less stressful of a situation for rookie left-hander Carlos Rodon to make his major league debut?
Talk about walking right into the fire.
Rodon entered Tuesday's game against the Cleveland Indians in the top of the sixth inning, with the Sox trailing 2-1 and Cleveland runners on first and third with two outs.
The game was on the line, and the Sox likely would have been better served to turn to a veteran reliever in that situation. Rodon almost certainly had some jitters and it showed. He walked the struggling Brandon Moss on four pitches to load the bases, then fell behind 2-0 in the count to Sox killer Ryan Raburn.
Eventually, the count went to 3-2, and Raburn fouled off three pitches before looping a broken-bat single into left field to drive home two runs and increase the Tribe lead to 4-1. In case you were wondering, Raburn now has 79 career RBIs against the Sox. He has no more than 24 RBIs (Kansas City) against any other major league team.
Rodon got out of that sixth inning without further damage, but then walked the first two hitters he faced in the seventh. Both walks came around to score after a sacrifice bunt, a sacrifice fly and a single as the Tribe went on to beat the Sox, 6-2.
The rookie did work around a one-out double in the eighth and recorded his first major league strikeout, so at least there's that.
Rodon's final line in his debut: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3BB, 1 K.
It was not a good night for the Sox or Rodon, but at least the first-night nerves are out of the way for the South Siders' prized prospect.
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