Carlos Rodon & the Bullpen Shut ‘Em Down. Yankees 3 Mets 1

July 27, 2023 paperbacklou 2023 0

Carlos Rodon was rough around the edges but showed Grit in winning his first game as a Yankee — he and the bullpen shutting down the Mets for a 3-1 win at Yankee Stadium on a beautiful, warm, breezy summer Wednesday night.

The Yankees used a small-ball attack to pick up 3 runs in the first 4 innings, taking a 3-1 lead. And then Rodon and the Yankee bullpen of Michael King, Wandy Peralta, Tommy Kahnle, and Clay Holmes shut the door on the Mets.

“It was nice to hear the fans happy with the performance,” said Carlos Rodon afterwards. “Just glad I have something to build off. The defense today — there were some hard balls hit and they made some plays for me; we had some offense early, scored some runs; and the bullpen shut ’em down; we had a good game.”

NY improves to 54-48, and pulls to within 8 games of Baltimore, 6.5 behind Tampa, 2.5 behind Toronto, and 1 behind Boston — still in last place in the stacked AL East. The Mets fall to 47-54, 17.5 behind Atlanta, 7.5 behind a Wild Card spot, and that much closer to ‘selling’ at the trade deadline in 3 days.

1. Gutsy Rodon Gets the Win

All Yankee eyes were on Carlos Rodon coming into the game — the high-priced free agent acquisition who missed all of April, May, and June and came in with a 0-3 7.36 record.

Rodon finally looked good. Not great — but gutsy good.

He blew thru the first 2 innings but when given a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd, immediately gave back a run in the top of the 3rd.

A leadoff single by Francisco Alvarez then a double by Danny Mendick put 2nd and 3rd nobody out — and a Brandon Nimmo sac fly made it a 2-1 game. Rodon then walked Francisco Lindor to put 1st and 2nd, 2 outs — and Pete Alonso hit a shot to left — caught by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Phew.

In the 4th, Rodon hit Jeff McNeill with a pitch, and walked Mark Canha — but got Francisco Alvarez to hit a tailor-made double play to Anthony Volpe at 2nd to end the inning.

In the 5th, Brandon Nimmo reached on what appeared to be an error by Oswald Peraza — the ball bouncing off his glove — that was originally called a hit (later changed to an error). Mark Vientos then singled to put 1st and 2nd, 1 out.

But Rodon got Lindor to line out to 2nd — 2 outs.

Rodon then faced the red hot Pete Alonso — and Rodon a lefty was at a disadvantage. But Rodon struck out Alonso on 3 pitches and roared off the mound.

Rodon got the first 2 outs of the 6th then allowed a single to Mark Canha and left for Michael King, who got Alvarez to pop out to end the inning.

2. Yanks Apply Pressure Early; Break Thru in 2nd

Meanwhile the Yankee lineup put immediate pressure on Carlos Quintana in the bottom of the 1st — Isiah Kiner-Falefa leading off with a single and Gleyber Torres singling him to 3rd with nobody out. But Giancarlo Stanton struck out and Anthony Rizzo hit into a double play.

The Yankees put more pressure on Quintana in the 2nd — a DJ LeMahieu walk, Harrison Bader double, and Anthony Volpe walk loaded the bases with nobody out.

Kyle Higashioka struck out — but Oswald Peraza knocked in a run with a fielder’s choice groundout to 3rd; Volpe was JUST safe at 2nd so the bases remained loaded with 1 out.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa knocked in a 2nd run with a sac fly to shallow right that Bader was “JUST” safe on at the plate. Yankees 2 Mets 0 at the time.

Gleyber Torres then hit a shot to right that Jeff McNeil made a terrific catch on at the top of the wall.

3. Yanks Get Insurance Run in 4th

The Yankees got back the 2-run lead in the bottom of the 4th — Harrison Bader led off with an infield single and went to 2nd on a throwing error by Mark Vientos at 3rd.

Anthony Volpe then singled in Bader for a 3-1 Yankee lead.

4. Gleyber Robbed Twice by McNeil in Right

Jeff McNeil — who had robbed Gleyber Torres with a catch at top of the wall in right to end the 2nd — did it again on a drive by Gleyber leading off the 5th — this time McNeil’s glove went over the wall to rob Gleyber of a homer.

Gleyber ended up 1-4 on the night and is at .264 — which in today’s game is like a .300 average. (In fact, Gleyber is 25th in the American League in batting; in the late 90’s there were 25 to 28 guys a year batting .300 in the American League.)

5. Bullpen Shuts ‘Em Down

After King got the final out of the 6th, Wandy Peralta pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th, striking out 2.

Tommy Kahnle pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th, striking out Alonso.

Clay Holmes came in for the 9th — a 3-1 game — and got ground out, strikeout, ground out for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • DJ LeMahieu walked 3 times on the evening, going 0-1. He had walked 3 times the night before against Justin Verlander as well. LeMahieu is now at .231 (.307 OBP).

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472552

 

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