It was a howling, scowling, fist-pumping, chest-tapping, glove-slapping Giants debut for Carlos Rodón.
Only a dominant performance in lieu of a quiet offense could elicit such a range of emotions. In his first game as a Giant, Rodón flashed the nastiness San Francisco expected, but got the Matt Cain treatment — not enough help from his offense — during his five innings of work.
In five innings, Rodón struck out 12 Marlins while allowing one earned run. Through it all, he strutted around the mound like he owned the thing.
When Rodón walked off the bump with a scream and two fists clenched to an Oracle Park standing ovation, the Giants trailed 1-0. They’d tie the score in the bottom half to take Rodón off the hook, but the only thing missing from Rodón’s historic debut as a Giant was a W next to his name as San Francisco registered just five hits and two runners in scoring position in a 2-1 loss.
The Giants signed Rodón this offseason to co-anchor a starting rotation that has the potential to be elite. His first start in a Giants uniform vindicated what San Francisco thinks of the southpaw: that, when healthy, he is one of the most unhittable pitchers in the sport.
No pitch was more dominant in 2021, per Baseball Savant, than Rodón’s four-seam fastball.
In his first inning, Rodón’s heater made the Miami Marlins look like teenagers in a batting cage trying to see if they could hit big-league velocity.
All 10 of Rodón’s first-inning pitches were four-seam fastballs. He threw eight of them for strikes and struck out two hitters, setting the tone for a dominant afternoon.
Last season, the lefty’s heater averaged about 95 mph, and the Cy Young candidate threw it roughly 60% of the time. On Saturday, it sat between 97 and 98 mph — a sign of health for the lefty. He revved it up at times, winding up and even jumping after finishing one delivery.
In the third inning, Rodón ran into trouble when John Berti chopped an infield single to Wilmer Flores, who committed his second throwing error in as many games. Berti advanced to second as Flores’ throw skipped into Miami’s dugout, then took third and later home on two offspeed pitches that squirted away from Joey Bart.
Still, Rodón dominated areas he could control: strikeouts and walks. The Marlins could hardly touch him.
Through four innings, he induced 19 whiffs — the most through four innings of any pitcher since Codify began tracking the stat in 2008. He kept hitters guessing by mixing in his curveball and slider in favorable counts.
Rodón fanned Jorge Soler, Garrett Cooper, Avisaíl García, Jesus Sánchez and John Berti twice apiece. The southpaw added five more swing-and-misses in the fifth inning, when he exited with 12 strikeouts — tied with Juan Marichal for second-most by a Giants pitcher in their debut — and two walks.
Like Logan Webb in the opener, Rodón was on a soft pitch count. Manager Gabe Kapler said that while it can take discipline to yank a guy when they’re rolling, protecting arms early in the season after the abbreviated spring is paramount. Trying to prevent injuries is especially key for a guy like Rodón, who comes with a CVS receipt-long injury history.
But Saturday, despite the Giants’ loss, Rodón made it clear to 38,885 fans at Oracle Park that he’s healthy. And if he walks like an ace, fist-pumps like an ace, hurls gas like an ace…well, he might just be the Giants’ second ace.