Rodón shines in Sunday showcase

The San Francisco Giants wrapped up their four game series against the Chicago Cubs with a 4-0 shutout with a big assist from ace and potential trade piece Carlos Rodón.

Aside from the first batter of the game that nearly took a slider over the Chevron cars in left if not for Luis Gonález’s well-timed catch, Rodón was nearly perfect.

He allowed only 2 hits over 7 innings while striking out 10. 9 of his 10 K’s came on swinging strikes and 8 came on four-seam fastballs. He collected 15 whiffs on his pitches while Cubs batters were only able to put 13 of them in play.

It was one of his best performances in a Giants uniform and his first scoreless outing since June back to back outings in mid-June. He also became the first pitcher since Madison Bumgarner in 2016 to collect six 10-strikeout games.

The offense cashed in with 4 runs in the 4th off of starter Adrian Sampson. After two quick outs, LaMonte Wade Jr. walked, Mike Yastrzemski singled, and newcomer Dixon Machado was hit by a pitch before Jason Vosler flipped a high and tight fastball into shallow left. Two runs scored and two more followed on Austin Wynns double off the centerfield wall.

John Brebbia pitched out of a minor jam in the 8th and Camilo Doval closed out the 9th with 2 strikeouts and zero fuss. It was an easy-going win for a pull-your-hair-out kind of team. Go figure.

The Giant arms logged 43 strike-outs and starters allowed 3 earned runs in the series. It was the pitching staff’s first shutout since July 12th.

The return to form for Carlos Rodón after two mediocre outings post-break was timely in more ways than one.

San Francisco needed to feel good about themselves going into another series with a hot Los Angeles Dodgers team. Taking 3 out of 4 from Chicago while capping off the series with a PT Cruiser of a win checks that box.

On the other hand, the performance might bring a little more clarity to the trade-or-not conundrum. Does an outing like this force suitors to sweeten the pot in a potential trade? Possibly—teams know how good Rodón is, but throwing this well after this many innings in a season was a big question mark for him.

The deadline is closing in and the time crunch coupled with tonight’s showing might get some executives anxious and aggressive and generous.

As I write this, Farhan Zaidi could be getting an offer he can’t refuse…