WEST SACRAMENTO -- Not long into the Yankees’ series opener against the Athletics on Friday, manager Aaron Boone couldn’t help but consider placing a call to the bullpen.
Starter Carlos Rodón was looking shaky at best, giving up a solo home run to Nick Kurtz in the first inning, allowing a walk and a single to start the second and issuing a four-pitch walk to the A’s leadoff hitter, Darell Hernaiz, in the third.
Boone wasn’t optimistic.
“I was like, ‘I don’t know how long he’s going to be out there tonight,’” the skipper admitted.
But by the time he walked off the mound for good, Rodón had turned things around, delivering his longest start of the season -- six innings of one-run ball in an 8-2 win over the A’s at Sutter Health Park.
“In the beginning, it wasn’t great, but there was a job to be done,” Rodón said.
In his fourth big league start since undergoing offseason surgery to remove a bone spur from his pitching elbow, Rodón limited the damage after Kurtz’s opposite-field solo clout, holding the A’s scoreless the rest of the way -- with a little help from his defense.
Second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. turned a 4-3 double play to neutralize a threat in the second inning, and catcher J.C. Escarra nabbed a runner stealing with the dangerous Shea Langeliers looming at the plate to end the third.
The strong glovework allowed Rodón to get on a roll. He induced a flyout to strand two runners in the fourth inning, then pitched a perfect fifth and sixth to finish his night on just 93 pitches -- fewer than the 95 he needed to complete five innings his last time out.
It sure didn’t hurt that the lefty was pitching with a large advantage: The Yankees plated four runs in the first inning, thanks in large part to a three-run homer by Paul Goldschmidt, before Rodón ever threw a pitch. New York added a run in each of the next three innings to build the lead.
“It makes it easier for us to go out there and fill it up and just try to go out there and get outs,” Rodón said. “It’s nice to pitch with a lead. This offense is pretty good. We go out there and attack the zone and let the defense do their job and win a lot of games.”
Try five games in a row, the length of the Yanks’ current winning streak. It’s been a team effort: The offense is averaging more than seven runs per game in that span, and the club’s starting pitching has simply been phenomenal. Rodón’s outing marked the sixth consecutive quality start from a Yankees pitcher, dating back to Gerrit Cole’s scoreless season debut on May 22 against the Rays. New York’s starters have a 2.95 ERA, the best mark in the Major Leagues.
With a 3.32 ERA after notching his first win of the year, Rodón has been a major part of that success. Yankees captain Aaron Judge, who drove in a pair of runs in the victory, said he’s glad to see the southpaw back in the rotation and delivering strong starts.
“I’m looking forward to the next one, especially with him and Gerrit both coming back and pitching the way they are,” Judge said. “That just puts us in such a better spot as a team.”
Rodón managed to limit the A’s to one run despite not having his usual high-octane stuff. His four-seam fastball and sinker were both down more than 1 mph from their season average, and he only got three whiffs on 44 total swings (6.8%), including just one swing-and-miss on 24 cuts against his four-seamer. But he found success by attacking the zone, firing 18 first-pitch strikes to the 22 batters he faced. His 81.8% first-pitch strike rate was his fourth-highest rate in any career start.
Entering his start in West Sacramento with an unusually high 56.7% ground-ball rate, Rodón continued to keep the ball on the dirt: Nine of the 17 batted balls against him (52.9%) on Friday were grounders. But only three of those were hits, and all three were singles.
With just three strikeouts on the night, Rodón’s pitch-to-contact approach wasn’t the way he usually retires hitters, but if you ask Boone, that might just be an encouraging development going forward.
It sure was a good thing for the Yankees on Friday night.
“He’s really become a pitcher and he’s able to get you out in different ways,” Boone said of Rodón. “He doesn’t have to overwhelm you with stuff on a given night. It took him a minute tonight, but he found it and settled in.”