Carlos Rodon threw down with a dominant performance — 6 innings of 3-hit pitching, allowing just a solo homer, striking out 9 and walking none — to lead the Yanks to a 5-2 win over Cleveland and 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series, at a cold Yankee Stadium on a Monday night.
Luke Weaver was dominant at the other end of the game — getting a 5-out save, striking out 4. He came in with 1 out in the 8th and runners on 1st and 3rd, the tying run at the plate, and struck out homerun hitter Will Brennan, and got the dangerous Manny Ramirez to hit an easy squibbler to 2nd.
Yankee offense was provided by Juan Soto, who hit a solo homer in the 3rd to kick off the scoring, a bunch of walks by Cleveland pitchers capped off by 2 wild pitches in that 3rd, and an insurance solo blast by Giancarlo Stanton in the 8th.
“I thought Austin (Wells) was great behind the plate,” said Rodon after his powerful start. “He had a good idea of how he wanted to handle the hitters. And then defensively we had some great play out there from (Aaron) Judge and the infield as well. And then the bullpen coming in and shutting the door was great. And offensively we scored some runs; some big swings from Soto and Big G and some competitive at bats, and it seemed we knew the strike zone very well so we played a very good game.”
Game 2 Tuesday night; Yanks lead series 1-0. Earlier in the afternoon the Mets beat the Dodgers to even their series 1-1.
1. Rodon Throws Down
Carlos Rodon has gotten crapped on a lot by Yankee fans the last 2 seasons — most of last year and through a rough patch this year in July despite finishing with a terrific year overall at 16-9 3.96.
In his last start against Kansas City in the 2nd game of that playoff series Rodon started well before running into turbulence in the 4th inning. Because of that, and how well Clarke Schmidt pitched in game 3, Yankee management waited until the last day before naming Rodon the starter of game 1 of this series (Gerrit Cole due to pitch game 2).
In leadup, there was a lot of Rodon hate going on by Yankee fans on Twitter — which Rodon was aware of when asked about it before the game. That led to a Yankee Twitter apology to Rodon and his wife Ashley before the game.
Rodon came in and shut their mouths and the door on Cleveland.
Carlos Rodón, Filthy Sliders. ?
7Ks thru 4. pic.twitter.com/LhQtjwQo3t
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 15, 2024
His fastball was SMOKING and his slider was filthy. He threw in some changeups and cutters to effect. He allowed a 1-out single in the 1st, and a 1-out single in the 2nd while striking out 3, then really started smoking in the 3rd through 5th — retiring all 9 batters in a row and striking out 2 in each inning.
More Vicious Carlos Rodón Sliders.
8th and 9th Ks.
23 Swings and Misses so far tonight thru 5. pic.twitter.com/anXYYHjxGp
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 15, 2024
He allowed a solo homer to Brayan Rocchio leading off the 6th to make it a 4-1 game, but then retired the last 3 batters to end his outing.
“He was attacking the zone right from the jump,” said pitching coach Matt Blake about Rodon. “He commanded the fastball really well; got the ball to the areas he wanted to. And then when he got ahead of them, he was able to put guys away with the slider today. I think that was as efficient as we’ve seen him in a while. He was very aware of what the last outing ended up being and how the emotions got away from him early and that was going to be a focus for him throughout the game. And after each inning you could see he was just trying to stay steady and keep collecting outs.”
“I don’t want to lose site of that 1st start how good I thought he was early,” said manager Aaron Boone. “He was definitely amped up, and that potentially led to some fatigue or whatever, and that led to him missing some spots in that last inning. But man I thought he held his stuff really well. You just watched him out there with intensity but a lot of poise, and that’s what stood out.”
2. Soto Blast Starts the Scoring
Cleveland started Alex Cobb, and the Yanks pressured him from the beginning. Gleyber Torres and Juan Soto led the game off with consecutive singles, but Cobb struck out Aaron Judge looking on a pitch the Yanks felt was outside — then got Austin Wells to ground out and getting Giancarlo Stanton to ground out.
The Yanks got consecutive singles with 2 outs in the 2nd — by Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo — but Gleyber Torres grounded out to end the inning.
NY finally broke through in the 3rd — Juan Soto with a homer to right center to give NY a 1-0 lead.
The Generational Juan. pic.twitter.com/GFH08rJE0f
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 15, 2024
3. Cobb and Cantillo Get Wild
The Yanks continued to press Cobb — Aaron Judge working a walk behind Soto’s homer, then Giancarlo Stanton working a 1-out walk, and Anthony Volpe working a 2-out walk to load the bases.
Cleveland brought in Joey Cantillo — and he threw a wild pitch while throwing to Anthony Rizzo allowing Judge to score from 3rd. NY 2 Cleveland 0.
We’ll take it! 2-0 pic.twitter.com/mSa82qRmQE
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 15, 2024
Anthony Rizzo worked a walk to load the bases again — and Cantillo threw another wild pitch while throwing to Alex Verdugo, allowing Stanton to score. NY 3 Cleveland 0.
Wild pitch is absolutely delivering for the Yankees tonight pic.twitter.com/TMMIDNqmWy
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 15, 2024
4. Holmes a Shutout 7th
With NY up 4-1, Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 7th — groundout, lineout to Aaron Judge in center who made a nice running catch, and strike out.
Clay Holmes, Nasty 84mph Breaking Ball. ? pic.twitter.com/DezAatFvIK
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 15, 2024
5. Giancarlo MISSILE Makes It 5-1 in 7th
Cleveland brought in Erik Sabrowski to pitch the bottom of the 8th and Aaron Judge greeted him with a stinging liner to right that Daniel Schneemann (just put into the game) made a tremendous sliding catch on. Schneemann then struck out Austin Wells but Giancarlo Stanton hit a dead-eye MISSILE to left and it was 5-1 Yanks.
Stan by me. pic.twitter.com/LTvFe0phAA
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) October 15, 2024
In the left-field bleachers, there was jubuliance.
Bleacher showers bring October championships pic.twitter.com/tmEKgJFHza
— Emy ⚾️? (@mrsstealyobase) October 15, 2024
6. Weaver SHUTS THE DOOR
Tim Hill got the 1st out of the 8th, but then allowed a single to Gimenez, and another single off Anthony Rizzo’s glove into rightfield by Rocchio. Tim Hill ran to 1st to cover, and stood in the wrong spot — Rocchio (purposely) running into him as he started to go to 2nd to draw an interference call, then purposely running into him again as he scrambled back to 1st. Hill was called for interference, and Rocchio was awarded 2nd base.
Umps give Brayan Rocchio second base here as they call interference on Tim Hill pic.twitter.com/dfsqI34KyO
— Talkin’ Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 15, 2024
Steven Kwan singled to left off Hill and it was a 5-2 game, with runners on 1st and 3rd and only 1 out.
Weaver Saves Hill and the Game in 8th
Boone brought in Luke Weaver — and Luke Weaver SHUT THE DOOR — striking out pinch-hitter Will Brennan on 3 pitches, the last one swinging, and then getting the dangerous Manny Ramirez to hit a squibbler to 2nd for an easy out. PHEW.
Weaver Strikes Out Side Swinging in 9th
Luke Weaver walked the leadoff batter in the top of the 9th, but then got to business — striking out Josh Naylor on 3 pitches. Weaver went 3-0 on Schneemann, but came back to strike him out swinging.
He then struck out Hedges swinging — four 96-MPH fastballs, and an 89-MPH changeup — for the old ballgame.
Luke Weaver’s 3Ks in the 9th. pic.twitter.com/rYHVyDv0Mr
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 15, 2024
Be the first to comment