Had it not been for Jung Hoo Lee, the Yankees might have gained their weekend collection in opposition to the Giants. Carlos Rodón may need loved his fourth begin of the season, and the house followers might have left Yankee Stadium with smiles on their faces Sunday.
Alas, Lee very a lot performed a component within the three-game set, hitting a three-run homer in Friday’s opener earlier than including two extra longballs off an in any other case stellar Rodón in a 5-4 rubber match win for the Giants on Sunday afternoon.
Lee’s first dinger of the finale solely put one run on the board within the fourth body after Rodón left a 3-2 slider over the center. Nonetheless, the outfielder added one other three-run shot within the sixth inning on a 1-2 curveball that hung on the prime of the zone.
“Good hitter. Hit my mistakes. First at-bat, I got him on a slider in zone. Second at-bat, he hammered that slider. Missed the execution on that,” Rodón mentioned, recalling his battles with Lee. “Third at-bat, we went arduous. Began with arduous sinkers, four-seam, after which simply horrible execution on a curveball that he punished.
“It’s not good enough.”
Beginning catcher J.C. Escarra added that the curveball was imagined to be down within the zone.
“He hadn’t seen the curveball all game,” Escarra mentioned. “We wanted to get him chasing and punch him out.”
Previous to Lee’s second lefty-on-lefty crime, a gentle Christian Koss single went below Anthony Volpe’s glove. Rodón, a Big in 2022, then walked Willy Adames. The free cross made for a callback to Rodón’s final begin in opposition to the Tigers, as two walks preceded a three-run homer from Andy Ibáñez that day.
After that sport, Rodón mentioned that he was “tired of walking people.” He expressed related sentiments after strolling three on Sunday, stating that falling behind hitters has been “frustrating.”
“Not much you can do on the infield single there,” supervisor Aaron Boone mentioned. “But then the walk ahead of the homer, it’s that small of a separator between him being in a dominant position right now to — the reality is he’s throwing the ball incredibly well. It’s that next level of avoiding that ball that today is one ball.”
Boone added that Rodón’s command was a “tick off.” Nonetheless, the supervisor praised the pitcher after an outing damage by walks and homers for the second straight begin.
“I thought he was excellent and [made] a critical mistake with runners on,” Boone mentioned after Rodón additionally tallied 5.2 innings, three hits, 4 earned runs, eight strikeouts and 100 pitches. “It’s really one pitch that hurt his outing.”
The very fact of the matter is that Rodón has made a behavior of creating errors at inopportune occasions, even in video games the place he’s displayed dominance. He has now surrendered 5 residence runs this season and is pitching to a 5.48 ERA.
Rodón has given up 51 homers in 50 complete begins for the Yankees. That determine leads the majors since his Yankees debut on July 7, 2023.
“His stuff is prone to the longball,” Boone mentioned. “So, especially in certain situations, preventing that as best we can is a challenge.”
Be that as it could, the Yankees want extra from their $162 million man, particularly with Gerrit Cole out for the yr.
“I wouldn’t say that’s really crossed my mind much,” Rodón mentioned when requested in regards to the implications of Cole’s absence. “I’m just focusing on giving my best effort out there and trying to win ballgames.”
Carlos Rodon has allowed 51 residence runs with the Yankees.
That is tied with JA Happ for probably the most in any participant’s first 50 video games with the Yankees.
With Rodón out of the sport, San Francisco pushed one other run throughout within the seventh after Casey Schmitt led the inning off with a double. He then scored as Koss benefitted from some extra iffy protection: a fielding error from Paul Goldschmidt.
Goldschmidt began the scoring again within the first inning, choosing up an RBI single in opposition to Giants ace Logan Webb after Aaron Choose doubled off the middle subject wall. The Yankees added two extra runs within the second on an Escarra double – the primary RBI of his profession – and a Ben Rice single.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., snapping an 0-for-24 skid, then ripped a solo homer within the eighth, however it was too little, too late for the Yankees.
“I’ve been barreling a lot of balls up over the past week,” Chisholm mentioned. “They just haven’t been falling, and that’s just what baseball is. You can hit a million balls at 100 mph and get zero hits out of it. So I’m just happy to see that luck is finally turning around.”
With the Bombers lastly carried out with a Nationwide League-heavy early-season schedule, a rematch from the 2024 American League Division Collection awaits.
A 3-game collection with the Royals begins on Monday. Seth Lugo, the AL Cy Younger runner-up final season, will begin the opener for Kansas Metropolis. Michael Wacha and Kris Bubic will comply with.
Carlos Carrasco and Max Fried will begin the primary two video games for the Yankees. Fried has been the pinstripers’ solely reliable starter to this point, however they’re hoping he’ll have some assist when Clarke Schmidt makes his season debut on Wednesday.
Initially Revealed: April 13, 2025 at 4:24 PM EDT
