Yankees routed again as Atlanta pounces on Carlos Rodon
Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón walks off the mound after manager Aaron Boone took him out of the game during the fourth inning against Atlanta at Yankee Stadium on Friday, June 21, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
Two pitches in on Friday, it seemed quite possible that this was going to be a short outing for Carlos Rodon and a long night for the Yankees.
Single. Home run. Two-run deficit before the Bleacher Creatures finished the Roll Call.
It didn’t get much better for Rodon. He gave up three home runs and allowed eight runs (seven earned) and 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings as the Yankees, who were held to three hits, lost to Atlanta, 8-1, before 45,226 at Yankee Stadium.
Rodon (9-4, 3.86 ERA) was the second consecutive Yankees starter to give up seven earned runs. On Thursday, Luis Gil allowed seven runs in 1 1/3 innings in a 17-5 loss to Baltimore.
"It's just part of it," Rodon said of the boos he heard. "We didn't — I didn't — perform, obviously, to the best of my ability, and that's just how it goes here."
Rodon’s first pitch was lined to left-center by Jarred Kelenic for a single. His second was launched 408 feet to leftfield by Ozzie Albies for a two-run home run.
"They came out swinging," Rodon said. "They did some damage on some fastballs. Two pitches in, two runs down. Obviously not the way I wanted it to go."
Austin Riley added a two-out solo shot to put the Yankees in a 3-0 hole before they came to bat in the bottom of the first against Chris Sale.
Rodon gave up three hits and a run in the second, with Kelenic’s one-out single making it 4-0.
The Yankees picked up their only hit against Sale (who allowed one run and one hit and struck out eight in five innings in improving to 10-2) in the bottom half. It was a gift from leftfielder Adam Duvall, who raced back almost to the wall on a fly ball hit by Jahmai Jones before realizing the ball was going to fall in front of him. It did, and then it trickled behind Duvall as Jones raced to third with his first career triple. He scored on DJ LeMahieu’s grounder to second to cut Atlanta’s lead to 4-1.
It became 5-1 on Ramon Laureano’s RBI double in the third and 7-1 on Matt Olson’s two-run homer in the fourth.
Later in the fourth, Jones overran Sean Murphy’s double in the leftfield corner for an error to allow an eighth Atlanta run to score. That was it for Rodon, who walked three and struck out three.
"They got to his fastball right away, right out of the chute," manager Aaron Boone said. "Just a tough night. Second, third, fourth, I thought he was better."
After going 9-2 with a 2.93 ERA in his first 14 starts, Rodon has allowed 13 runs (12 earned), 18 hits and five walks in 8 2/3 innings in his last two starts.
"This thing's hard," Boone said. "We'll get through this little stretch here, and Carlos will, too."
When reliever Yoendrys Gomez threw a scoreless fifth, it ended a streak of nine consecutive innings in which Yankees pitching had allowed at least one run (17 runs total). They had given up at least one run in 13 of their last 14 innings (27 runs, 32 hits).
The Yankees (51-27) have lost three in a row and five of six. They have gone 6-8 since a 25-6 stretch moved them to 45-19.
Anthony Volpe, who was thrown out trying to steal second after walking in the first, showed a rare burst of frustration when he flung his bat toward the Yankees' dugout after hitting a soft fly ball to center in the sixth.
The Yankees’ first non-tainted hit was Giancarlo Stanton’s line single to center leading off the seventh against Jesse Chavez.
One bright spot for the Yankees was Gomez, who was called up earlier Friday. In his third big-league appearance, he relieved Rodon and threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings. Gomez allowed three hits, walked three and struck out five.
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.