CLEVELAND — It was as if Carlos Rodón looked at his 12 strikeouts over five innings in his Giants debut and asked himself, How can I beat that?
Rodón took a decidedly different tact Friday against the Guardians in his second outing of the season but was equally as effective, even if it was all but impossible to be more impressive. Absent the preposterous rate Rodón missed bats in his first start, he replaced it with an even more cold-blooded efficiency (and didn’t stop getting swings and misses, either).
But Rodón, with his upper-90s fastball and wipeout slider, still showed the ability to blow it past hitters when needed, such as in his seventh and final inning, after the Guardians started the inning with runners on the corners. Rodón recorded his eighth and ninth strikeouts of the evening to escape the threat and set himself up to earn his first win with the Giants, who took began a four-city, 11-day road trip with a 4-1 win to spoil the Cleveland’s home opener at Progressive Field.
