Carlos Rodon “threw down” for 6 innings of 2-hit shutout baseball; the Yankee pen of Mark Leiter Jr., Devin Williams, and Luke Weaver completed the shutout; and Jorbit Vivas hit his first MLB Homer for the only run of the game.
Final score: NY 1 Texas 0 on a cold, rainy Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
“My toes are frozen, but it was worth it,” said Carlos Rodon’s wife Ashley on X.
Rodon out-dueled former Yankee Nathan Eovaldi. It was Rodon’s 6th tremendous start in a row, just like manager Aaron Boone predicted 6 starts ago.
“I tried to tell you this when he gave up the 3-run homers and everyone was losing their mind,” said Boone afterwards. “He’s about to roll off a bunch in a row. I think it’s been since the start of the season. If you go back to opening day, you have the 2 outings that got wrecked by the 3-run HR but even in those, it’s been — how many starts has he made now — 10 or 11? — I think they’ve all been really, really strong. A pitch here or there in a couple of them it’s even at another level. But it’s been a lot of really, really good.”
NY sweeps the 3-game series and improves to 30-19, in 1st in the AL East by 5 games. Texas falls to 25-26.
1. Rodon in Command
Rodon was a bear on the mound, in short sleeve shirt on the cold 53-degree rainy day, ripping through the Rangers lineup.
He allowed a harmless 2-out single in the 1st, pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the 2nd, struck out the first 2 batters of the 3rd before allowing a grounds rule double to Sam Haggerty and a walk to Wyatt Langford before getting a grounder to end the inning.
Rodon blew through the 4th and 5th with 1-2-3 innings, then after allowing a 1-out walk in the 6th, struck out Josh Jung and Jake Burger to end his outing and leave with a 1-0 lead. His line: 6 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 8 K’s, 2 walks. He wins to go 6-3 2.88.
8 punch outs for The Dón ?#RepBX pic.twitter.com/Bvbccc842X
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) May 22, 2025
“He had a little bit of everything working,” said Boone about Rodon. “Even had his curveball back, that kind of left him in the last few. Just really sharp, big outing; and obviously you know you’re going up against Eovaldi — another really, really good one where you know it’s going to be tough — and he made it stand up.”
Rodon’s slider was dominant. “Really good,” noted Boone. “And they periodically worked some 3-2 counts on him, and he won all of those too.”
Carlos Rodón, Nasty 84mph Changeup. ? pic.twitter.com/Bqql4y7g1I
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2025
2. Eovaldi Great Too
The Yanks were up against old friend Nathan Eovaldi, who came in with a 4-3 1.61 slash line. The now 35-year-old righty pitched for NY in 2015 (going 14-3 4.20) and 2016 (9-8 4.76) .
The Yanks peppered Eovaldi early but couldn’t get him: a 1-walk by Aaron Judge and 2-out single by Paul Goldschmidt in the 1st went to naught, and a 2-out infield single by Jorbit Vivas and double by Oswald Peraza in the 2nd also went to naught.
Eovaldi then threw a 1-2-3 inning in the 3rd and 4th and it looked like NY had missed its chance — because Yank fans know when Eovaldi gets rolling he can throw a shutout at you.
3. Vivas First HR
But Jorbit Vivas got Eovaldi leading off the 5th, tagging a first-pitch, 94-MPH fastball 360 feet to right center for his first MLB homer. Yankees 1 Rangers 0.
Jorbit Vivas cracks his first Major League home run ? pic.twitter.com/svvWemvu0n
— MLB (@MLB) May 22, 2025
4. Leiter a Shutout 7th
And that would be it for the scoring!
Mark Leiter Jr. relieved Rodon to start the 7th, and allowed a leadoff single to Marcus Semien, but then got a strike out and ground out. With 2 outs, Joc Pederson reached on an infield single, but Leiter got tough and struck out catcher Josh Smith swinging with a nasty splitter.
Mark Leiter Jr., Wicked Splitters. ✌️ pic.twitter.com/hgBS9eWjAj
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2025
5. Devin a 1-2-3 Shutout 8th
More good news for the Yanks: Devin Williams was Great again — he threw a 1-2-3 inning in the 8th; ground out, strike out, ground out. His “Air Bender” was bending air.
Devin Williams, Ridiculous Airbender. ?
25 Inches of Arm Side Movement. ? pic.twitter.com/AmFkmU13nY
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2025
6. Weaver a 1-2-3 Shutout 9th
The Yanks couldn’t get anything off Texas relievers Hoby Milner or Shawn Armstrong, so it remained a 1-0 game going to the top of the 9th in the showery cold rain.
Luke “Dream” Weaver came in and was a dream reliever as usual — no agita — a 1-2-3 inning: fly out, fly out, and strike out swinging of Jonah Heim for the old ballgame.
Luke Weaver, Dirty 89mph Changeup. ? pic.twitter.com/GZCi8SK3Hg
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 22, 2025
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