Carlos Rodon has positive debut but gets outpitched by Jameson Taillon as Yankees lose to Cubs

Carlos Rodon’s long-awaited Yankees debut was a net positive overall even though the lefthander took the loss Friday night in a 3-0 setback against the Cubs at the Stadium.

It was a loss that could be put squarely on the shoulders of a Yankees offense that made yet another opposing pitcher look like Pedro Martinez in his prime.

“You can’t win this way,” Kyle Higashioka said. “If you score zero runs, I think it’s typically impossible [to win].”

Rodon, who suffered a left forearm strain in mid-March and subsequent back issues that kept him sidelined until Friday night, showed flashes of the All-Star pitcher whom the Yankees gave a six-year, $162 million contract during the offseason.

Rodon, outpitched on this night by former Yankee Jameson Taillon, allowed two runs and four hits in 5 1⁄3 innings in which he walked two and struck out two.

He walked off the mound to a loud ovation from the crowd of 42,763 that otherwise spent the sticky 80-degree evening booing an offense that produced all of two hits.

“It was nice to finally pitch in the pinstripes in Yankee Stadium,” Rodon said. “Not the way I wanted to start [with a loss]. Wish it was a little better for me.”

Taillon, a Yankee from 2021-22 who came in 2-6 with a 6.93 ERA, allowed one hit — he retired 13 straight after Gleyber Torres’ one-out single in the first — and two walks in a season-high eight innings in which he struck out four.

“I know J-Mo comes in with that inflated ERA,” said Aaron Boone, whose team fell to 48-41 and into fourth place in the AL East. “A lot of that’s come against lefthanded hitters that have really gotten him. He’s pitched all right to righties. We know what he’s capable of . . .

“I think we were facing a better pitcher, certainly, than the numbers. But that said, I thought we had some pitches to do some things with. But we all know we have to do better than that, and that’s on all of us.”

Rodon, having thrown 69 pitches (54 strikes), was pulled with one out in the sixth, a runner at third and the Yankees trailing 2-0.

“Slider is legit,” one rival scout said of Rodon’s performance Friday. “Fastball seemed a little light. They were squaring it up pretty good.”

Ian Hamilton came on and, after walking the first batter he faced, induced Trey Mancini to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.

“I know it’s been frustrating for him to not be able to start the season with us,” Boone said before the game of Rodon, whose career resume contains plenty of success but also an extensive history of injuries. “I know he feels a responsibility to go out there with the boys and compete and do his part.”

The offense did not do its part, completely throttled by Taillon, who entered the game having allowed 77 hits (including 13 home runs) in 63 2⁄3 innings with a 1.52 WHIP.

But the Yankees, who have scored all of one run (which was unearned) in the last two games, were unable to touch him.

“I thought he mixed pitches pretty well,” Higashioka said. “We didn’t get too many looks at the same pitch. He did a decent job staying out of the middle, so I think in that aspect he was kind of tough and unpredictable.”

Rodon, who needed 11 pitches to get through a perfect first and five to get through a 1-2-3 second, allowed a leadoff homer in the third by Cody Bellinger — an all-but-certain trade-deadline target of the Yankees — that gave the Cubs a 1-0 lead.

The outfielder, whose lefty swing, defensive skill set and overall abilities with the bat make him appealing, led off the inning by hammering a 95-mph fastball 410 feet into the second deck in right for his ninth homer.

A rapidly tiring Rodon allowed a one-out RBI single in the fifth by Nico Hoerner that made it 2-0. Patrick Wisdom’s RBI double off Ron Marinaccio in the seventh made it 3-0.

“I think we can turn it around. We’ve got a lot of guys that can hit,” Rodon said of the offense. “We’re in a rut right now [but] I think a few guys will step up. There’s been some good swings from the group. The last few days it’s been a little rough. There’s a lot more games to be played, that’s for sure.”