NEW YORK – The Reds were on Gerrit Cole’s mind, having circled this as his day to pitch. That shifted sometime this weekend, when the right-hander heard the Yankees would adjust their rotation – a nod to their current string of 16 consecutive games without an off-day.
“I think it’s a real process-oriented decision,” Cole said at his clubhouse locker on Sunday, promising to turn his attention to the Tigers on Monday in Detroit, then leaving little question that he would’ve been ready to face Cincinnati. “I don’t know. I’m not making the call.”
Instead, Sunday’s start went to rookie Elmer Rodríguez, the organization’s top pitching prospect according to MLB Pipeline, who took the loss in a 4-1 defeat at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees dropped consecutive games for the first time since June 2-3.
Tyler Stephenson hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning off Rodríguez, whose fourth Major League start looked a lot like his first three – he has recorded 12 to 14 outs in all of them while permitting one to three runs.
This time, Rodríguez wriggled out of first-inning trouble, then pitched mostly clean into the fourth, when Stephenson hammered a 96.3 mph four-seamer into the visitors’ bullpen. MLB Pipeline rates Rodríguez as the Yankees’ No. 2 prospect (and MLB’s 59th overall).
Ben Rice hit a solo home run for the Yankees, his team-leading 22nd. The Bombers were otherwise handcuffed over five innings by Chase Burns, who struck out seven and improved to 6-0 with a 1.57 ERA over his past nine starts.
The Yanks have struggled to cash scoring opportunities of late. When pinch-hitter Paul Goldschmidt flied out to leave two men on in the sixth, they were hitless in their past 24 at-bats with runners in scoring position dating to the ninth inning on Friday.