Chicago White Sox manager Tony La Russa admitted he was “concerned” after All-Star left-hander Carlos Rodon departed Monday’s game against the Detroit Tigers with soreness in his pitching arm after he tossed just 69 pitches in three innings of work.
Ahead of Tuesday’s game against Detroit, La Russa explained the plan is for Rodon to take the bump on Sept. 29 versus the Cincinnati Reds so the club can see how he’s feeling ahead of the playoffs.
Chicago began Tuesday holding a lead of 11.5 games over the second-place Cleveland Indians in the American League Central standings and will soon clinch the division crown.
“His comments after the game [were] he was tired, but he also said he was sore and he was sore this morning,” La Russa told reporters, per Scott Merkin of the MLB website. “Hopefully it’s just normal soreness, and we’ll do a bunch of stuff to get him ready and keep our fingers crossed that [next Wednesday] he’s good to go.”
La Russa continued:
“That’s why he needs to go on the mound, just to evaluate that. We’re assuming he can make one of the [playoff] spots, but yesterday was not a good day, so he’s got another shot next [Wednesday]. We’ll see if there’s a better result so we can be more optimistic.
“We’re definitely concerned. We’ve got a pattern we’ve established all year long to give him extra rest and it’s really worked. He’s taken the extra time to stay sharp and stay strong. That’s why yesterday was a disappointment.”
Rodon is 12-5 with a 2.47 ERA and 181 strikeouts across 127.2 innings this season but, per Jesse Rogers of ESPN, has battled arm fatigue during the second half of the campaign that has caused La Russa to give him extra rest ahead of the postseason. He hasn’t made it past the fifth inning in any of his last seven starts.
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