Yankees' Carlos Rodon shuts down Mets' offense in Subway Series opener
Carlos Rodon of the New York Yankees pitches during the first inning against the New York Mets at Yankee Stadium on Friday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
A Yankees rotation that, because of injuries to Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, was supposed to be a major problem has, with the exception of some early-season hiccups, been anything but.
Max Fried, of course, has been the primary reason why. But so has Carlos Rodon.
The lefthander, though not as sharp as he had been in the past month, still turned in five strong innings Friday night in the Yankees’ 6-2 victory over the Mets, allowing one run and two hits and departing with a 6-1 lead.
Rodon (5-3, 3.17 ERA) is part of a rotation that has a 2.88 ERA in its last 29 starts. He matched his season high in walks with four, but three of those were to Juan Soto.
“I was trying to get him to swing and miss every time,” Rodon said with a smile of his approach against his teammate last season. “As he always [is], real patient in the zone and gets out of there with three walks. I wanted to get him, but he got me.”
Rodon, who struck out five, earned a smile from Soto. During the outfielder’s third plate appearance, which came in the fifth inning, Rodon came up and in with an off-speed pitch. Soto looked out at Rodon with a smile and then got a 96-mph fastball that also arrived up and in (neither was particularly close to hitting Soto).
“To be expected, I guess,” Rodon said of the reception Soto received throughout the night from the boisterous sellout crowd.
Rodon, 4-0 with a 1.72 ERA in his last six starts, coasted in quite a few of those outings, but that was not the case in what was a 102-pitch grind. The key inning in driving Rodon’s pitch count up was the fourth, when the Mets made him throw 33 pitches.
“There’s days you have to figure out how to get outs when everything’s not on. Today was one of those days,” said Rodon, who did feature a particularly good slider Friday. “But you still have to go out there and compete, and that’s part of the job.”
Rodon did not allow a hit until Mark Vientos’ one-out single in the fourth. By then, he had a significant lead.
The big inning for the Yankees was the third, when they sent 10 to the plate, drove Mets starter Tylor Megill from the game and scored four runs.
Jorbit Vivas led off with a single, and a walk to Aaron Judge and the second of Cody Bellinger’s three hits loaded the bases with one out.
Paul Goldschmidt, slashing .429/.490/.595 with runners in scoring position, hit a slow broken-bat grounder back up the middle that shortstop Francisco Lindor fielded. Goldschmidt beat the bounced throw for an infield single and the ball skipped away from first baseman Pete Alonso for an error on Lindor, which allowed Judge to score. Anthony Volpe’s sacrifice fly gave the Yankees a 3-0 lead and consecutive walks to Austin Wells and Oswald Peraza made it 4-0.
For Bellinger, who also doubled, his first time in a Subway Series was special. His father, Clay, played for the Yankees from 1999-2001, and Cody attended the 2000 World Series between the clubs, but he was only 5 at the time.
“That was really fun to be a part of,” Bellinger said. “Really, any Friday night at Yankee Stadium so far has been fun to be a part of, but this was just full, full, full of energy.”
Notes & quotes: Jonathan Loaisiga, who started the season on the injured list while recovering from right elbow surgery, was activated Friday afternoon and made his debut in the sixth inning with a scoreless frame. Loaisiga has been a mostly effective pitcher for the Yankees in his seven years with them, but health has always been an obstacle. The 30-year-old pitched a combined 20 games the previous two years because of an assortment of injuries. Lefthander Tyler Matzek was designated for assignment as the corresponding roster move . . . Jazz Chisholm Jr., on the IL since May 2 with a right oblique strain, took ground balls on the field early Friday afternoon, the next step in his rehab. Though the second baseman believes he can be back within the next 1 1⁄2 weeks, Aaron Boone took a more cautious approach (the timeline given for Chisholm was four to six weeks). “It’s definitely him being optimistic, which is his nature, which I love about him,” Boone said with a smile. “But he is doing really well and seems to be tolerating everything well.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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