April 14, 2021: One foot from perfection, Carlos Rodón throws a no-hitter for White Sox against Cleveland

Through the 2020 season, both the Chicago White Sox and New York Yankees had three perfect games in club history, tying for the most by a big-league franchise. The Yankees’ first was Don Larsen’s in the 1956 World Series. The Yanks’ Davids – Wells and Cone – threw perfectos in 1998 and 1999 respectively. Charlie Robertson threw the first White Sox perfect game in 1922. It took 87 years for another, and Mark Buehrle’s gem in 2009 was followed by Philip Humber’s in 2012.

On a cold night in April 2021, it appeared that Chicago’s Carlos Rodón would break that tie.

Selected by the Milwaukee Brewers from a North Carolina high school in the 16th round of the June 2011 amateur draft, Rodón chose to attend North Carolina State University instead. After a stellar college career that saw him win the Richard W. “Dick” Case Award as the USA Baseball Player of the Year as a sophomore and pitch in the College World Series, the White Sox took Rodón in the first round, third overall, in the 2014 draft.

Rodón was called up to the White Sox on April 20, 2015. After a successful rookie season (9-6, 3.75 ERA), he spent as much time over the next few years rehabilitating injuries as he did pitching on the Guaranteed Rate Field mound. Rodón was sidelined by a 2016 wrist injury,1 shoulder injuries in both 2017 and 2018, and elbow problems requiring Tommy John surgery in 2019. He pitched in just 11 games combined in 2019 and 2020, leading the White Sox to nontender him a contract after the 2020 season.2 Rodón, now 28 years old, did return to Chicago for 2021 on a one-year, $3 million contract.3

Rodón had to battle for a spot in the White Sox starting rotation in 2021, but he secured his place with a solid spring.4 He opened the season by allowing no runs and just two hits and three walks in five innings on April 5, as the White Sox shut out the Seattle Mariners. Nine days’ rest preceded his next start.

The effects of COVID-19 were still being felt as the virus entered its second season in 2021. In March, the City of Chicago, in conjunction with state public health officials, agreed to allow the White Sox to use 20 percent of Guaranteed Rate Field’s capacity, with fans limited to physically distanced pods of one to six seats. On April 14 a crowd of 7,148 visited the ballpark on a breezy, 45-degree night for a 7:10 P.M. start against the Cleveland Indians.

The White Sox had won the series opener on April 12, scoring a walk-off run on Cleveland first baseman Yu Chang’s ninth-inning throwing error. Cleveland snapped the next night’s scoreless tie, a duel between reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber and Chicago’s Lucas Giolito, with two 10th-inning runs.

Rodón was scheduled to start the series opener but was scratched with an upset stomach.5  On the mound two nights later, he continued his early-season success with a one-two-three first inning. Cleveland center fielder Jordan Luplow’s fly to deep left on the first pitch of the game was the only ball hit hard.

The White Sox took control of the game in the bottom half of the frame, plating six runs against Indians starter Zach Plesac. Yoán Moncada drove in a run with an infield single, and designated hitter Yermín Mercedes, who had become a mini-celebrity to White Sox fans thanks to his .485 batting average entering the game, followed with a three-run homer, his third of the season.

Later in the inning, back-to-back doubles by rookie left fielder Andrew Vaughn and shortstop Leury García brought in another run, and second baseman Nick Madrigal’s RBI single made it 6-0. Plesac was pulled at that point, having retired only two batters and done major damage to his ERA.

Rodón had no issues getting through the second inning, and aside from a line drive that center fielder Luis Robert Jr. had to run down in left-center, the third inning as well. In the third, Tribe reliever Trevor Stephan put two runners on and was replaced by Phil Maton. He allowed both inherited runners to score on Robert’s ground-rule double and Moncada’s being hit by Maton’s pitch with the bases loaded. After three, the White Sox were in control with an 8-0 lead.

In the fourth, Rodón came back from a 3-and-0 hole against Luplow to notch his first strikeout of the game. He followed up that K with a scream from the mound. César Hernández and José Ramírez went quietly to finish the fourth.

Eddie Rosario became Rodón’s second strikeout victim in the fifth inning, stepping away from the plate as he swung at a big curveball and missed. White Sox color commentator Steve Stone said of Rosario’s swing that “[His] heart was in it, but his rear end was not. Yikes!”6

Roberto Pérez hit a sharp grounder to shortstop in the sixth, but García made a nice play to keep perfection a possibility. Chang was caught looking to end the inning, and Rodón had gone 18 up, 18 down.

It was still 8-0 when Cleveland batted in the seventh. Facing Luplow for the third time, Rodón struck him out for the second time on a 97 MPH fastball above the zone. Two batters later, Rodón failed to fool Ramírez – who had finished second to Chicago’s José Abreu in the 2020 AL MVP voting – on a 3-and-1 fastball, but the sharp line drive was hit straight at Vaughn in left, and there were only six outs to go for history.

There was no drama in the eighth, with Franmil Reyes popping out, and Jake Bauers and Rosario striking out. But there was drama in the ninth inning. Josh Naylor led off with a soft groundball toward first baseman Abreu, who fielded it and nearly did the splits tagging the bag with his right foot.

Indians manager Terry Francona appealed the play, claiming Naylor beat the throw. Replays showed that Naylor did in fact beat the throw but missed the bag with his right hand on his headfirst slide, and Abreu hit the base before Naylor’s left hand connected.

Rodón commented on Abreu’s play after the game, saying, “I didn’t want [Abreu] to blow out his knee. Without that play, we don’t get there.”7

Twenty-five of twenty-five Cleveland hitters had been retired, and the next batter, Pérez, was down 0-and-2. But Rodón’s slider spiked down and hit him on the top of his back foot. The perfect-game bid was over.

Rodón recovered quickly, striking out Chang for the second time on a pitch on the inside corner (or “in the neighborhood,” as White Sox announcer Jason Benetti put it).

Luplow then hit a sharp grounder to third baseman Moncada, who coolly threw across the diamond to beat Luplow by 10 feet for the final out of the no-hitter. Moncada and catcher Zach Collins met Rodón near third for a celebration, with the rest of the team joining in. “That was the most incredible thing that I’ve ever been a part of behind the plate,” Collins stated.8

“It’s a pretty special moment,” Rodón said after the game. “Not many people can say they’ve thrown a no-hitter in major-league baseball. It just feels good to finally sit here and tell you ‘I dominated today.’ And it felt good. I’ve never really done that. I’ve never done it on this level at least. It feels good to say, ‘I did it.’”9

“He was very determined,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said. “Proved to me he’s a finisher.”10

The no-hitter was the 20th in White Sox history, good for second place to the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers among all major-league franchises.11

Rodón finished the 2021 campaign with a 13-5 record and a 2.37 ERA. He made his first All-Star Game that season. In 2023, with Rodón in the first season of a six-year, $162 million free-agent contract with the Yankees, his teammate Domingo Germán pitched a perfect game against the Oakland A’s, breaking the perfect-game deadlock between the Yankees and White Sox.

Author’s Note

One thing missing on my baseball bucket list was to see a no-hitter in person. I saw Nolan Ryan take one into the ninth against the White Sox in August 1974, but that was as close as I had been. My best friend turned 60 the week of this game, so, not having seen a game in person for over a year, I splurged and bought the two of us tickets to the game. His wife told me I won the award for the best birthday present that year.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Laura Peebles and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Photo credit: Carlos Rodón, Trading Card Database.

Sources

In addition to the sources listed in the notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, mlb.com, Baseball-Reference.com, Times Machine via the New York Times, and the Chicago Tribune via newspapers.com.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CHA/CHA202104140.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/2021/B04140CHA2021.htm

Notes

1 Scott Merkin, “Sox Send Rodon to DL with Wrist Sprain, Recall Kahnle,” MLB.com, July 9, 2016, https://www.mlb.com/news/carlos-rodon-wrist-injury-on-disabled-list-c188876154.

2 Connor Byrne, “White Sox Non-Tender Nomar Mazara, Carlos Rodon,” MLB Trade Rumors, December 2, 2020, https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/12/white-sox-non-tender-nomar-mazara-carlos-rodon.html.

3 Darly Van Schouwen, “White Sox Announce One-Year Deal with Left-Hander Carlos Rodón,” Chicago Sun-Times, February 1, 2021, https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2021/2/1/22261121/white-sox-announce-one-year-deal-with-left-hander-carlos-rodon.

4 LaMond Pope, “Rodón Back and More Motivated Than Ever,” Chicago Tribune, March 24, 2021: 2-1.

5 LaMond Pope, “Carlos No-Don,” Chicago Tribune, April 15, 2021: 3-1.

6 “Every Out from Rodón’s No-No,” MLB.com, April 14, 2021, https://www.mlb.com/marlins/video/every-out-from-rodon-s-no-no?partnerId=web_video-playback-page_video-share (Comment at 2:47 of video).

7 Pope, “Carlos No-Don.”

8 Associated Press, “Carlos Rodon Loses Perfect Game in 9th, Gets No-Hitter,” New York Times, April 14, 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/sports/baseball/carlos-rodon-no-hitter-yankees-mets.html.

9 Scott Merkin, “Rodón Throws No-No! 2 Outs Shy of Perfecto,” MLB.com, April 15, 2021, https://www.mlb.com/news/carlos-rodon-throws-no-hitter.

10 Pope, “Carlos No-Don.”

11 The Dodgers led all major-league teams in no-hitters with 26 as of 2025. The Indians were no-hit two additional times in 2021: On May 7 by Wade Miley of the Cincinnati Reds, and on September 11 by Corbin Burnes and Josh Hader of the Milwaukee Brewers, both of these games held at Cleveland’s Progressive Field. They were also hitless in a seven-inning game against the Tampa Bay Rays, which does not count as a no-hitter under MLB rules. The three times being no-hit is an American and National League record.