Rodon Undone by Pitchcom & the Offense. Washington 5 NY 2

August 29, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Jazz Chisholm Jr with a homer in the 2nd to make it a 2-1 game.

Carlos Rodon was thrown off early by a Pitchcom device that wasn’t working right — causing him to balk in a run in the 1st inning, and the Yankee offense was stifled by MacKenzie Gore and the National bullpen, leading to a 5-2 loss to Washington on a hot, HUMID Wednesday night in Washington DC.

After allowing a homer to lead off the bottom of the 1st, Rodon was peppered by singles and stolen bases as he and catcher Austin Wells struggled communicating with the faulty pitchcom device. It finally had to be turned off for both teams as pitchers and catchers went back to using finger signs.

But Washington scored 4 runs off Rodon in the first 2 innings, with 5 stolen bases. Rodon then dialed it in and pitched well through 5 innings but the damage was done.

“It contributed to the balk, The tech was down there working on it, then it seemed like it was working, then it wasn’t so we had to shut it down for everyone. I think it affected a little bit in the running game because we work a lot of things through that, but we have to be able to adjust there, and were able to.”

“It was actually faulty all week for us,” added Boone about the Pitchcom. “More so than usual — we were having a lot of issues with it. So I don’t know what the deal was.”

NY drops to 78-56, but remain 1 game in 1st ahead of Baltimore, which lost to the Dodgers in a late-night game. Washington improves to 61-73.

1. Rodon Pitchcomed

Carlos Rodon allowed a leadoff homer to Dylan Crews to start the game, and then was peppered by singles and was thrown off by the wacky Pitchcom and Washington’s fast runners.

James Wood singled, stole 2nd, and went to 3rd on a wild pitch by Rodon, who was struggling with the Pitchcom.

Rodon then walked Andres Chaparro, and then balked — allowing Wood to score.

“I should have stepped off first and confronted them about the faulty Pitchcom,” said Rodon about the balk.

In the 2nd, James Young reached on a 1-out bunt single, then stole 2nd. Nasim Nunez singled him home, went to 2nd on the throw home, then stole 3rd. He scored on a single to left by Wood and it was 4-1 Washington.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” said catcher Austin Wells afterwards about the faulty Pitchcom. “When you’ve been using something, and you have a good flow with it and the timing of things, and you’re used to calling the pitches and Carlos is used to receiving them at a certain time and get in his rhythm, so it’s frustrating.”

Rodon pitched a shutout 3rd, but allowed a run in the 4th on an RBI double to Crews. He pitched a shutout 5th

“Definitely prepared for their speed,” added Wells. “But they picked really good spots to go, on good pitches to go and good counts; they were successful in the first 2 innings,  but I don’t think they had another one after that. I think we did a fairly good job adjusting to them after being behind the bar in the first 2 innings.”

2. Chisholm HR Makes It 2-1 in 2nd

MacKenzie Gore, a 25-year-old, 6’2 lefty, started for Washington. He entered with a 7-11 4.51 but pitched better than that.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Jazz Chisholm Jr.got to him by ripping a 411-foot homer to center to make it a 2-1 game.

3. Judge Singles Home a Run in 5th

— until the 5th, when Alex Verdugo led off with a single, moved to 2nd on a groundout by Gleyber Torres, moved to 3rd on a groundout by Juan Soto, and scored on a clutch, 2-out double down the 1st base line by Aaron Judge.

4. Gore & Washington Pen Keep Yanks at Bay

But besides those 2 runs, Gore kept the Yanks at bay, pitching 6 innings of 2-run ball.

He’s got a good arm; big arm; we know what he’s capable of,” said Aaron Boone about Gore. “He got them deep into the game; did a good job for them; kept us at bay enough. We had a couple of chances off him, but he was able to get out of those situations. One of those days were we weren’t able to finish off some rallies.”

5. Cousins Pitched Great

Rodon struck out the first 2 batters of the 6th before being relieved by Jake Cousins, who got the final out of the inning, then pitched a 1-2-3 shutout 7th, striking out 2.

6. Weaver Helped by Crazy Near-Triple Play

Luke Weaver pitched a shutout 8th but was helped by a crazy near-triple play due to bad Washington baserunning.

Joey Gallo led off the inning with a walk, and Yepez singled to put 1st and 2nd, nobody out.

Tena then hit a shot over Aaron Judge’s head in center, but somehow — Gallo held up at 3rd base and Washington had 2 runners at 3rd. The Yanks were able to get both into a rundown for a double play and almost got a triple play!

7. Yank Rally in 9th Fizzles

Anthony Volpe led off the 9th with a single against Washington ace reliever Kyle Finnegan, and Jazz Chisholm Jr.followed with a walk — bringing the tying run to the plate in the 5-2 game.

But Oswaldo Cabrera, pinch hitting for DJ LeMahieu, lined out to center. Volpe and Chisholm executed a double steal putting runners on 2nd and 3rd (to eliminate the double play), but Alex Verdugo grounded out to the pitcher Finnegan.

That brought up Gleyber Torres — the count went 2-o — and for the 2nd straight night it looked like Gleyber might walk to bring up Juan Soto with bases loaded in his old ballpark.

But Gleyber struck out on the next 3 pitches for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570466

 

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