BOSTON — One of the biggest players the Yankees could acquire during trade deadline week is in-form Carlos Rodon.
After six poor starts between mid-June and mid-July interrupted his season, the left-hander bounced back in style with his best performance all season, scoring two quality starts in consecutive games.
Rodon pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing five hits and two runs while striking out repeatedly, and was solid in the Yankees’ 8-2 victory over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday.
The Yankees called on their bullpen to pitch a combined 10 innings on Friday and Saturday and didn’t designate or option any relief pitchers before Sunday’s game, believing they wouldn’t rely too heavily on their shambles pitching staff.
Rodan has arrived.
“I got an out in the seventh inning. [inning] “That’s what we needed when we threw it there,” manager Aaron Boone said of Rodon, who didn’t allow a run in any of the four innings. “Obviously it was a great performance after pitching well last time out.”
After allowing 29 earned runs in 27 innings from June 15 to July 14 (and seeing his ERA skyrocket from 2.93 to 4.63 in the process), Rodon responded with dominance.
The pitcher allowed just one run in seven innings on Monday, striking out 10 against the Rays and seven against the Red Sox, striking out 25 batters in a single game during his 18-month stint with the Yankees.
For Rodon, who came to the team in pinstripes as a fastball and slider virtuoso, diversifying his pitching arsenal will be key.
On Sunday, the usage and effectiveness of his changeup increased.
Red Sox batters swung 13 times and put two weakly hit balls at the plate.
Nine of those attempts were misses.
“The changeup seems to generate some good strikeouts and keep hitters off-balance,” said Rodon, whose ERA dropped to 4.34.
His fastball usage was cut slightly from 49.8% on the season to 40% on Sunday, making his pitches a little less predictable and a little stronger.
He struck out nine whiffs with the weapon on Sunday.
“His fastball was good tonight. Good shape, good movement, some power to throw it in the zone,” said Boone, who has struggled in the rotation. “And that set up some other pitches that were effective for him again.”
Rodon’s only run came in the top of the fourth inning, when he led the count on consecutive innings but made a pitch he would later regret.
An 0-1 fastball to Rob Refsnyder went off the plate and was hit over the Green Monster’s head.
Connor Wong came up next to bat but was trailing 2-0 before Rodon’s slider rolled across home plate and into left-center field for a home run.
This frame could have been worse. After a hard hit, Rafael Devers’ hard hit hit the monster and was misplayed for a triple. But with a runner on third and no outs, Rodon went on the offensive. He struck out Tyler O’Neill with a good changeup, got Romy Gonzalez to hit a harmless grounder to Anthony Volpe, and after a walk, he got Sedanne Raffaella to strike out swinging on a good slider for a near-strike three.
“It was good that we got out of that inning with only two runs,” Rodon said. “We got back on offense.”
