Former Yank Jameson Taillon pitched 8 innings of 1-hit shutout ball to out-duel Carlos Rodon — the pitcher the Yankees signed while letting Taillon walk as a free agent — and beat NY 3-0 on a warm Friday night at Yankee Stadium.
Taillon was 14-5 3.91 for the Yankees last year; Carlos Rodon was 14-8 2.88 for San Francisco. But the Yankees let the 31-yr-old Taillon walk, figuring the 30-yr-old Rodon was an upgrade.
Afterwards Taillon didn’t speak of revenge — just happy to do well after he has pitched poorly and mostly been injured so far his season. With the win he improves to 3-6 6.15.
“I had the luxury of playing here for a couple of years. I embraced it; loved the environment; loved the fans. Definitely it felt good to be back,” said Taillon afterwards. “For a while I’ve just been trying to keep my head down, grind and put up results.”
Rodon has also been injured — in fact it was his first start of the season.
NY loses its 3rd in a row and falls to 48-41, still 8 back of Tampa but now in 4th place, a game behind Toronto and 5 behind Baltimore. The Cubs are now 41-46, 7 behind Cincinnati.
1. Rodon Good
Rodon pitched a shutout into the 3rd, when he allowed a leadoff homer to Cody Bellinger. In the 5th Rodon walked 2 batters and allowed a 2-out RBI single to 2nd baseman Nico Hoerner.
In the 6th he allowed a lead-off single to Ian Happ, then threw a wild pitch moving Happ to 2nd. Rodon got a groundout moving Happ to 3rd with 1 out and was relieved by Ian Hamilton who got out of the jam with a walk then inning-ending double play.
Rodon final line: 5.1 innings, allowing 4 hits and 2 runs.
Carlos Rodón's first strikeout with the Yankees 🔥
STREAM ➡️ https://t.co/aRu5PF6QsA pic.twitter.com/tTx67UgdQ8
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 7, 2023
“He was really good,” said manager Aaron Boone about Rodon afterwards. “They came out with a game plan of selling out to that heater knowing how it plays. They were aggressive to it; took some good swings. But because he had the life there and was executing at the top of the zone .. I thought he was really good. Obviously pitch efficient. I thought he got a little tired there in the 5th and into the 6th a little bit where he came out of his delivery — it’s to be expected; first time in this environment and first time getting into the 6th inning.”
“But overall I was really pleased with how he threw,” surmised Boone. “I thought his stuff was really good. It was fun to watch him get after it and be very much in control.”
2. Taillon Terrific
Taillon pitched 8 innings of 1-hit shutout ball.
Jameson Taillon's 2Ks in the 5th. pic.twitter.com/zSLLcgArAU
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) July 8, 2023
Afterwards, former Yankee catcher and current analyst John Flaherty said Taillon wasn’t that dominant and the fault was on the Yankee lineup. “Major league hitters when the game is over they evaluate what happened out there. And there are nights where you say, ‘we got dominated by a really good pitcher tonite ‘ — that was not one of those nights with Jameson Taillon. This is one of those games where if you are the Yankee lineup you did not feel you got dominated by somebody who had really good stuff. He only struck out 4. To me this was more on the Yankee lineup than it is saying this was a major, dominant pitching performance.”
It wasn’t as if the Yankees sent up a lineup of AAA players — the usual guys were there: Anthony Volpe who has been red hot, Gleyber Torres who has been hitting, Anthony Rizzo, Giancarlo Stanton who has been getting hot, Harrison Bader who has been hot, Josh Donaldson who has hit the occasional important homer.
Hitless all against Taillon sans Gleyber Torres who got a single. Stanton and Billy McKinney worked walks — Taillon gave up 2 walks.
3. Yanks Bullpen OK
Ron Marinaccio allowed a run in relief in the 7th (Cody Bellinger led off with a single, stole 2nd, and scored on a 1-out double by Patrick Wisdom), Tommy Kahnle pitched a shutout 8th, and Clay Holmes a shutout 9th.
4. Yank Offense Can’t Rally
Franchy Cordero joined the team just before the game, replacing Jake Bauers who was put on the Injured List with a sprain to his shoulder on the diving catch the game before that turned into a decisive run-scoring triple.
Cordero led off the 9th with a single against Cubs ace reliever Adbert Alzolay. But Anthony Volpe hit into a double play and Gleyber Torres struck out for the old ballgame.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401472338
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