Yankees’ win streak stalls at five after Rodón’s clunker

Lefty labors over 3 2/3 frames, yields tone-setting homer early in finale with Tigers

September 8th, 2023

NEW YORK -- The Yankees’ longest winning streak of the season is five games, with the September surge fueled by 's arrival having matched a May 18-23 string put forth by a much different-looking roster.

It’ll stay that way, at least for now.

endured a clunker, peppered for seven runs and eight hits over 3 2/3 innings as the Bombers fell for the first time this month. Spencer Torkelson homered twice for the Tigers, who handed New York a 10-3 loss on Thursday evening at Yankee Stadium.

“My stuff was a little down, a little all over the place, and they barreled a lot of balls,” Rodón said. “I just got my [butt] whooped. That’s pretty much it.”

The Yankees (70-70), having still won eight of their past 10, are seven games back in the American League Wild Card chase with 22 contests remaining in the regular season.

Toronto (77-63), Texas (76-63) and Boston (72-68) -- the three clubs ahead of New York for the final Wild Card slot -- were all idle on Thursday.

“I don’t think it takes anything away from how we’re playing,” said Anthony Volpe, “and how we’re capable of playing.”

Rodón didn’t see it that way, acknowledging that his 3 2/3-inning outing interrupted the momentum built by the next-gen Baby Bombers.

“We were on a little roll there with five straight wins, and I was just trying to put the next one up,” Rodón said. “It was not good.”

The lefty had previously held opponents to four runs over his past three starts, but he couldn’t find that rhythm against the Tigers -- a familiar theme in a bumpy and injury-marred debut campaign for the touted free-agent addition, who signed a six-year, $162 million contract this past offseason.

“He has just not been able to get that good rhythm going where he’s gotten in that great groove that we think is still in there,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I think it’s absolutely in there. We’ve just got to hopefully finish strong this month and put ourselves in a position to springboard into next year strongly with his stuff.”

Matt Vierling led off with a double, advanced on a wild pitch, then trotted home when Torkelson clubbed a drive into the right-field seats. Vierling added a run-scoring double and Andy Ibáñez lifted a sacrifice fly in the third inning, and Detroit scored four times in the fourth, a frame highlighted by Torkelson’s second homer of the game (off Randy Vásquez).

“I haven’t performed very well, and I haven’t performed very much,” said Rodón, who owns a 6.60 ERA in 10 starts as a Yankee after going 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA in 31 starts for the Giants in 2022. “It’s been very frustrating.”

Boone said that Rodón’s track record, which made him one of the most appealing starting pitching targets last offseason, offers confidence that he can put forth a more complete 2024. The skipper noted that Rodón’s average velocity and pitch profiles are much the same as they were with San Francisco.

“Physically, his stuff is not all that far off,” Boone said. “I think it’s been a weird year of catch-up, new team, start, stop, and just not getting in that good rhythm of the season. It’s that fine line between what makes a guy great and where he’s trying to find it a little bit.”

Gleyber Torres hit his 25th home run in the defeat, surpassing last season’s tally for the second-highest mark of his career. Torres hit 38 home runs in 2019, when he was named an AL All-Star for the second time.

“I think he’s one of the most pure hitters I’ve ever played with,” Volpe said. “Just the level of consistency in everything he does and how he’s able to make adjustments, he hits everything. It’s super impressive.”

Rookie Everson Pereira contributed a two-run double off Tigers starter Eduardo Rodriguez, who navigated six innings to pick up the victory.

The game featured an odd ejection. Anthony Rizzo -- out for the season with post-concussion syndrome -- was thrown out by home-plate umpire Alan Porter, who believed Rizzo was arguing balls and strikes during an at-bat involving Domínguez.

“I questioned the Domínguez call, and I think Alan just looked down the dugout and saw Rizzo there,” Boone said. “It wasn’t overly confrontational.”