Rodon strikes out 11 as Chicago White Sox top Angels

The Chicago White Sox are once again trying to scratch and claw their way back into the wild-card picture while keeping a close eye on the future.

In Tuesday night's 3-0 victory over the Angels at U.S. Cellular Field, the Sox' future was looking pretty bright.

It started with rookie Carlos Rodon, who established career highs with 7 innings pitched and 11 strikeouts.

"Yeah, I think so," Rodon said when asked if it was his best start with the White Sox. "I've been trying to get 7 innings this whole year and it just hadn't been happening for me. So it's good to finally get that in."

Rodon barely survived the first inning, walking Shane Victorino to open the game and giving up a single to Los Angeles' next hitter, Kole Calhoun.

But the 22-year-old left-hander settled down after that, striking out Mike Trout and Albert Pujols before getting Erick Aybar on a flyout to end the inning.

"You walk the first guy and then you've got to hone in on the strike zone and just try to make pitches," Rodon said.

Mixing in fastballs and sliders, Rodon overpowered the Angels for much of the night while allowing only 4 hits.

"Pretty good stuff," catcher Tyler Flowers said. "He did a good job of getting ahead of guys. It seems like they were being a little more patient in most of the at-bats. So we did a good job getting strike one on them most of the time. That allows us to utilize some other pitches. He really did a nice job the whole time."

There has been talk of limiting Rodon's innings the rest of the way to protect him in his first full professional season.

Judging by his performance against L.A., Rodon has plenty of quality pitches left in his arm.

"He's had some other ones that have been pretty good, but that's a tough lineup to go through," manager Robin Ventura said. "Especially some situations he got in, he was able to find something extra and get out of it."

Rookies Trayce Thompson and third baseman Tyler Saladino also had impressive games - Thompson with the bat and Saladino with the glove.

"It's big," Ventura said. "Anytime you get it from young guys, there's some energy, there's some life to it."

Thompson hit his first major-league home run, a solo shot in the fifth inning.

"It was nice," Thompson said. "It was just another game, but it was definitely nice to help the team and to contribute to a win. That's all it really is. Tonight was really fun. Carlos was amazing."

When Thompson returned to the White Sox' dugout after circling the bases for the first time, he received the silent treatment. "These guys like to have fun," Thompson said. "It was great, it was awesome. It was funny."