Carlos Rodon Loses Perfect Game in 9th, Gets No-Hitter

Carlos Rodon threw the majors’ second no-hitter of the season on Wednesday night, losing his bid for a perfect game on a hit batter in the ninth inning, and the Chicago White Sox cruised to an 8-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians.

Working quickly in short sleeves with the top of his jersey unbuttoned on a cool Chicago night, the left-handed Rodon threw 75 of his 114 pitches for strikes. He struck out seven in his first major league shutout and his second complete game.

After Rodon plunked Roberto Perez on his back foot with an 0-2 slider with one out in the ninth, he watched in almost bewilderment as Perez made his way to first.

Rodon regained his composure in time to strike out Yu Chang looking and retire Jordan Luplow on a sharp grounder to third, kicking off a joyous celebration. The crowd of 7,148 cheered as Rodon (2-0) jumped around with his teammates near the mound, and then started handing out hugs.

It was the first no-hitter for the White Sox since Lucas Giolito’s on Aug. 25 last year against Pittsburgh and No. 20 in franchise history, second-most in major league history behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. The first no-hitter of the season belonged to Joe Musgrove, who last week threw the first one in the history of his hometown San Diego Padres’ to beat the Texas Rangers. Like Rodon, Musgrove came within a hit batter of a perfect game.

Sidelined by a string of arm injuries throughout his career, Rodon, 28, was out of a job for a while last winter. Back in December, the White Sox declined to offer him a 2021 contract. He re-signed with the team as a free agent, agreeing to a one-year deal for $3 million on Feb. 1.

Perez, who has made two hard outs earlier in the game, said that when he came up in the ninth, he was unaware Rodon had not allowed a base runner.

On his way to first, the Indians catcher was asked by Rodon if he really got hit by the ball.

“To be honest, I didn’t really think he had a perfect game until I got hit,” Perez said. “I thought he had a no-hitter going on, but I really didn’t think he had a perfect game. It’s hard, man. I’m not going to stand there and get hit, especially on a night like tonight when it was cold. But that’s just part of the game.”

The closest call for Rodon’s no-hitter occurred when Josh Naylor led off the ninth with a slow bouncer. First baseman José Abreu picked it up and got his toe on the bag just ahead of a sliding Naylor.

The call stood after a video review, delighting the bundled-up crowd.

Bo Bichette matched the Yankees slugger Aaron Judge in the power department and got to take the final trot.

Bichette homered twice, including a game-ending drive to lead off the ninth inning that lifted the Toronto Blue Jays over the Yankees, 5-4, on Wednesday.

“I think I am just starting to heat up,” Bichette said. “I think I was grinding for a while. That’s part of baseball, you fight until you start feeling good. It’s good feeling now.”

Bichette drove a pitch from Chad Green (0-2) the opposite way to right-center field as Toronto took two of three games in the series.

Bichette tied his career high with an 11-game hitting streak. He had three hits and also stole a base.

Alejandro Kirk also homered for the Blue Jays. Rafael Dolis (1-0) worked the ninth to get the win.

Judge hit two home runs for the Yankees, who went 2-4 on a road trip. The Yankees also lost two of three at Tampa Bay.

“It’s the little things,” Judge said. “I looked back, it’s either baserunning mistakes, mistakes in the outfield, not coming up with just a clutch hit. There’s a bunch of things. For me personally, a couple things I need to work on to help put this team in a better position to come out with better outcomes.”

The Yankees scored 23 runs over the six games.

“Inconsistent,” Judge said. “That’s the word I keep coming back to. Not consistently having quality at-bats, put the ball in play when we need to, situational hitting.”

Toronto went 3-3 with one rainout in its first regular-season homestand at TD Ballpark, its spring training home.

The Blue Jays are playing their first three homestands through May in Florida because of Covid-19 restrictions in Canada. The team used Sahlen Field, its Class AAA stadium in Buffalo, as a home base last year and could return there later this season.

David Peterson matched a career high with 10 strikeouts in six dominant innings and catcher James McCann hit his first home run with the Mets, sending the team past the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1, on Wednesday night for its third straight win.

McCann had three hits, including a two-run homer in the eighth. Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith also got three hits apiece, and Francisco Lindor scored twice.

Peterson (1-1) outpitched former Mets starter Zack Wheeler, allowing only two hits and rebounding nicely from a rough outing in Philadelphia last week. The second-year lefty solved the N.L. East rival Phillies after entering with a 16.50 E.R.A. in two career starts against them and a 2.64 E.R.A. in nine outings versus all other teams.

Three relievers finished a three-hitter for the Mets. Aaron Loup got five outs and Edwin Díaz fanned two in a perfect ninth against the meat of the Phillies’ order.

Philadelphia batters struck out 14 times.

After starting the season 4-0, the slumping Phillies have dropped six of eight — including the first three games of this four-game set.

The Mets pounced early, scoring two runs against Wheeler in the first inning. The red-hot Nimmo got things started with a leadoff single against his former teammate, who needed 29 pitches to get through the first.

Lindor and Smith followed with back-to-back singles, scoring Nimmo. Lindor came in when Pete Alonso grounded into a double play.

Wheeler made his major league debut with the Mets and was 44-38 with a 3.77 E.R.A. in 126 regular-season starts with them from 2013-19.

The right-hander left for a $118 million, five-year deal with the Phillies following the 2019 season. He is 1-1 with a 3.71 E.R.A. in four starts against his old club.

Five Astros on Covid-19 Injured List

The Houston Astros have placed second baseman Jose Altuve, third baseman Alex Bregman, designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, catcher Martin Maldonado and infielder Robel Garcia on the injured list because of Covid-19 health and safety protocols.

General Manager James Click made the announcement on Wednesday, hours before the Astros were to wrap up a three-game series with the Detroit Tigers.

Click said he couldn’t say if a player had tested positive for the coronavirus or been exposed to someone who had and that the length of each player’s absence would be determined by contract testing that is being performed.

Click was asked if the situation could have caused the game to be postponed.

“We’ve been in close contact with Major League Baseball throughout the day about that possibility,” he said. “They don’t believe that there is a health-safety reason not to play. So as of now, we are playing the game.”

To take their place, infielders Taylor Jones, Abraham Toro and Alex De Goti, outfielder Ronnie Dawson and catcher Garrett Stubbs have been recalled from the alternate training site.

The Astros have lost four games in a row after a 6-1 start and now must play without four members of their starting lineup.

“It’s just a challenge for the rest of our guys to pick us up and get us back on the right track,” Click said. “We’ve obviously (struggled) a little bit in the past four games. When it rains, it pours. It’s a difficult situation but we can’t let that take our focus away from from winning this game.”