Rodon Holds Serve Despite Cold. Judge HRs. Yanks Sweep. NY 7 ChiSox 2

May 19, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0

Carlos Rodon wasn’t feeling very well, but he did not blink. He held serve in this on-going streak of great starts by Yankee starting pitchers, each one matching or bettering the previous starter’s performance.

NY has now won 7 in a row, as Rodon allowed 2 runs in the 2nd — but made sure that was all he allowed — and the Yankee offense took it from there in beating the White Sox 7-2 on a Sunday afternoon at a Sunny but cool (65-68-degree) Yankee Stadium.

After the game, Rodon’s wife Ashley tweeted “He was so sick yesterday I was worried. Thank you Jesus.”

The Yankee offense put 7 runs on the board for Rodon — Jose Trevino singled in 2 runs in the bottom of the 2nd; Jon Berti hit a 3-run homer in the 4th; and Aaron Judge hit a 2-run homer in the 5th, putting NY up 7-2 — and Rodon and the bullpen took it from there.

The bullpen was Michael Tonkin, who pitched a shutout 7th and 8th, relieved by Clay Holmes when he got in trouble in the 9th — and Holmes shut the door.

“Starts with the starting pitching,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards. “6 strong for Carlos today. He’s been a little under the weather this week, so to go out and give us 6 good ones was big. And the offense continues to do their thing — we’re getting the long ball obviously, which is huge — but we’re getting a lot of contributions — today the bottom of the order with Trevi getting us on the board with the big hit there; Berti going the other way for a homer.”

NY improves to 33-15, and remain in 1st place by 2 games over Baltimore. The White Sox drop to 14-32.

1. Rodon Throws Down a Good Start

You could hear in the post-game interviews that Rodon was shaking off a head cold. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 1st but in the 2nd, Corey Julks got hold of a Rodon 95-MPH fastball and put it over the wall in left center for a 1-0 White Sox lead.

Rodon walked the next batter, Corey Lee, and next batter Zach Remillard tripled off the wall in center, making it 2-0 ChiSox.

Trevino Helps Rodon Out of the 2nd

But Rodon got Danny Mendick to pop out to foul ground, and then Jose Trevino made the play of the game — Martin Maldonado checked his swing on a ball low — Trevino pointed down to the 1st base ump to ask for a check of the call — and as the 1st base ump was signaling ‘no swing’ — Trevino wasn’t listening anymore and gunned down Remillard off 3rd to end the inning.

Rodon Buckles Down

Rodon pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd but got into more trouble in the 4th: a leadoff single and hit-by-pitch put 1st and 2nd, nobody out — score tied 2-2.

But Rodon reared back and struck out the next 3 batters.

  • Blessed with a 5-2 lead going into the 5th, Rodon pitched a shutout inning, allowing a 2-out walk but getting the final batter.
  • Blessed with a 7-2 lead going into the 6th, Rodon pitched another shutout inning, allowing a 2-out single but getting the final batter.

Rodon’s line: 6 IP, 4 Hits, 2 runs, 6 K’s, 2 walks. He wins to go 5-2 3.27. He held court.

2. Trevino 2-RBI Single Ties It in 2nd

After Rodon allowed 2 runs in the top of the 2nd — the Yanks immediately replied against ChiSox starter Chris Flexen in the bottom of the 2nd:

  • Anthony Rizzo smacked a hit-em-where-they-ain’t infield single to 3rd to get on with 1 out,
  • Gleyber Torres doubled putting runners on 2nd and 3rd, and
  • Jose Trevino —  playing like an All Star again this year after missing most of last season with injury — smacked a 2-RBI single to center and it was a 2-2 tie.

3. Berti 3-Run HR Puts Yanks Up 5-2 in 4th

It was the same combo scoring runs in the 4th against Flexen:

  • Anthony Rizzo again smacked a hit-em-where-they-ain’t single past 3rd to get on with 1 out,
  • Gleyber Torres singled,
  • Jose Trevino grounded out moving the runners to 2nd and 3rd, and
  • Jon Berti hit a 3-run homer to right center. NY 5 ChiSox 2.

4. Judge 2-Run HR Puts Yanks up 7-2 in 5th

Juan Soto led off the bottom of the 5th with a walk against Flexen, and Aaron Judge — who had struck out the prior 2 at bats — got hold of an 86-MPH cutter and put it just over the short porch wall in opposite-field right for a 7-2 lead (the ball bouncing back onto the field after hitting a fan).

5. Tonkin Does Good

Michael Tonkin — another find by the Yanks this year (he was with 4 clubs in April) — pitched a shutout 7th (working around a 1-out double) and 8th (1-2-3 inning).

Tonkin came out for the 9th as well but got into trouble — yielding a leadoff walk to Corey Julks and single by Korey Lee. He stayed in to pitch to Remillard and struck him out and then was relieved by Clay Holmes.

6. Holmes the Finish

With 1st and 2nd, 1 out and a 7-2 lead, Holmes got a line out, and then a ground out of Andrew Benintendi for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401569166

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