Although he wasn’t exactly playing against Murderer’s Row, opponents often didn’t matter to Carlos Rodon as a Yankee.
With the Marlins in front of him on Tuesday, Rodon mowed them down in one of his best starts in pinstripes.
Rodon pitched seven shutout innings (some of which was his own doing) before running into trouble, but it was enough to lead the Yankees to a 3-2 victory over the Marlins in the Bronx.
“Today was a step in the right direction,” Rodon said after striking out six and allowing two earned runs over six innings. “Just keep going. My confidence is definitely growing.”
The Yankees are currently off to a 10-2 start, tying the franchise’s all-time record with 12 decisions, after also accomplishing it in 1922, 1949 and 2003. Each of those three seasons ended with a berth in the World Series.
“That’s huge. This is the play we expect,” said Alex Verdugo, who put the Yankees ahead in the second inning with his first home run to the short porch. “Coming out of spring training, to back it up and do what we’ve done in not light competition by any means, we’ve played some good teams. This has been a year since the early days. What we have to do throughout is win the series.”
Rodon became the first Yankee to pitch six scoreless innings (his 17th start with the team), following Nestor Cortez’s eight shutout innings against the Marlins (1-11) on Monday night.
In the 7th inning, a walk, an error, and an infield hit left the bases loaded with no outs, so it didn’t end on a good note, but he still received a standing ovation as he got off the mound.
Ian Hamilton relieved Rodon and hit a ground out and a fly out (sacrifice fly) to bring the Marlins within 3 wins and 2 losses. However, Hamilton blocked the tying run at second base and pitched a scoreless eighth.
Clay Holmes made the save on the seventh pitch of the ninth inning to end the game.
“Honestly, it’s very easy to give the ball to Ian Hamilton and our bullpen because they’re so good,” Rodon said.
Through three starts, Rodon posted a 1.72 ERA with 15/3 innings pitched.
It’s still early days, but there are plenty of signs that he can be a different pitcher than his disastrous first year in the Bronx.
On a night when his fastball velocity slowed down a notch, Rodon mixed in his usual combination of four-seam and slider with a healthy dose of cutters (15) and changeups (10).
He got three whiffs with a changeup, and in the fifth inning, he used a cutter that included a double play to induce a ground ball.
“When you throw that changeup, it feels like he’s really throwing it with a four-seamer, a cutter, a changeup, a slider,” Verdugo said. “The biggest thing is he’s usually a player with a fastball and a slider, so guys can take their chances and get a little more open because everything comes in for the right-hander and the left-hander. Guys, it all goes away. Just adding a changeup against a right-handed pitcher humbles you and balances you out a little bit. There’s no way a guy is going to cheat. It just forces you to be more accurate with the barrel. . He was lights out.”
After Verdugo’s early home run, the Yankees extended their lead with Giancarlo Stanton’s come-from-behind RBI double in the fifth inning and Juan Soto’s RBI single in the sixth.
That was enough for Rodon to clinch the Yankees’ fourth series win in as many tries.
“He’s in a really good spot right now and he’s earned it,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He started just three games, but he did well. It’s the result of a talented player coming prepared.”
