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TAMPA, Fla. – Yankees’ lefty Carlos Rodon might not have been at his best Friday night, but this was his best effort yet in 2025.
“Just grinding through six innings,’’ said Rodon, following a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Rays at sold-out Steinbrenner Field, the AL East-leading Yankees’ fifth straight victory.
Credit, too, goes to some smart defense by the Yankees (13-7) and some not-very-smart baserunning decisions by the Rays (8-12), who’ve lost four straight games and can’t out-hit such mistakes.
Rodon walked four more batters, but Friday marked the first of Rodon’s five starts in which he kept the ball in the ballpark.
Before the game, manager Aaron Boone said it felt like Rodon’s “stuff is really good, the swing and miss is there,’’ but limiting walks is “an important part of his success path.
“It’s all in line for him to go and run off a number of good starts in a row. That’s my expectation and hopefully it starts tonight.’’
Rodon began the evening by putting runners on first and second, on a walk and a single, but struck out the next three batters – Curtis Mead, Christopher Morel and Danny Jansen – on a good mix of sinkers and sliders.
“Had a little more life on the fastball,’’ said Rodon, who struck out nine Rays and yielded only two hits in his 102-pitch effort.
“That was a bit of a grind for him, actually,’’ said Boone, who felt Rodon’s previous two outings – losses against Detroit and San Francisco – were sharper, only to be ruined by the home run ball.
Anthony Volpe (0-for-4, 3Ks) is batting .197, but he made two tremendous defensive plays – assisted by some questionable Rays baserunning.
Leading off the seventh, with the Rays down 1-0, Jonathan Aranda lashed one to right-center off Mark Leiter Jr. for extra bases
But when he tried for a triple, center fielder Trent Grisham got the ball to Volpe, whose quick-and-accurate relay throw to Oswaldo Cabrera nailed a stunned-looking Aranda.
“We practice that a lot,’’ said Volpe, crediting first base/infield coach Travis Chapman for the attention to detail there.
In the fifth, with one out and the infield in, Jose Caballero (leadoff double) was caught in a rundown between third and home as first baseman Paul Goldschmidt alertly fielded and started the play to erase the potential tying run.
Boone was intentionally staying away from closer Devin Williams, who threw just six pitches in Thursday night’s save of a 6-3 win.
Williams was ready to go, but Boone decided not to pitch Williams for the fourth time in five days, instead going to Luke Weaver, who got two strikeouts and a pop up in a quick ninth inning.
Weaver’s fastball velocity was back up, and “he was digging himself out there a little bit,’’ Boone said after Weaver’s second save this year.
Not lost was Fernando Cruz’s quick eighth inning work, with two more strikeouts on his filthy splitter.
“I’ve never seen as many bad swings from good hitters’’ as on Cruz’s splitter, said Boone of a pitch aided by Cruz’s rebuilt delivery this spring.
“I changed practically everything in spring training,’’ said Cruz, including where he stands on the pitching plate. It’s a “process I embraced’’ in camp, boosted by the club’s encouragement despite some shaky early results.
The key player in the deal that sent catcher Jose Trevino to Cincinnati this past winter, Cruz credited bullpen coach Mike Harkey for streamlining data to him and helping him “stay under control’’ while maximizing his intent and effort.
On a very warm night when the wind was blowing in sharply, Ben Rice was robbed of his sixth homer of the year, as Rays’ right fielder Jose Caballero extended his glove over the fence to make a tremendous leaping grab with a man on first in the eighth inning.
To end the fourth, with none on, Morel made a sensational running-diving catch in left field, skidding along the warning track to take an extra-base hit from Grisham.
It was Grisham’s second inning, two-out RBI single that made the difference Friday, coming off Rays’ right-hander Drew Rasmussen, who lasted 5.2 innings.
Dealing with a touch of food poisoning, catcher Austin Wells sat out Friday night’s game.
JC Escarra started a second straight game behind the plate, as Wells was merely rested from Thursday’s lineup against the Rays.
But early Friday morning, Wells was having a rough time. “No idea what happened,’’ said Wells, adding that the illness was unrelated to his new pastime: Ranking breakfast burritos on social media.
Last week at Detroit, Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger missed one game due to food poisoning believed to have originated from a room-service order of wings.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Carlos Rodon grinds out a win, Yankees' defense contributes to 1-0 victory over the Rays
Continue reading...
“Just grinding through six innings,’’ said Rodon, following a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Rays at sold-out Steinbrenner Field, the AL East-leading Yankees’ fifth straight victory.
Credit, too, goes to some smart defense by the Yankees (13-7) and some not-very-smart baserunning decisions by the Rays (8-12), who’ve lost four straight games and can’t out-hit such mistakes.
Yankees’ Carlos Rodon gets tough
Rodon walked four more batters, but Friday marked the first of Rodon’s five starts in which he kept the ball in the ballpark.
Before the game, manager Aaron Boone said it felt like Rodon’s “stuff is really good, the swing and miss is there,’’ but limiting walks is “an important part of his success path.
“It’s all in line for him to go and run off a number of good starts in a row. That’s my expectation and hopefully it starts tonight.’’
Rodon began the evening by putting runners on first and second, on a walk and a single, but struck out the next three batters – Curtis Mead, Christopher Morel and Danny Jansen – on a good mix of sinkers and sliders.
“Had a little more life on the fastball,’’ said Rodon, who struck out nine Rays and yielded only two hits in his 102-pitch effort.
“That was a bit of a grind for him, actually,’’ said Boone, who felt Rodon’s previous two outings – losses against Detroit and San Francisco – were sharper, only to be ruined by the home run ball.
Yankees’ defense saves the night
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Anthony Volpe (0-for-4, 3Ks) is batting .197, but he made two tremendous defensive plays – assisted by some questionable Rays baserunning.
Leading off the seventh, with the Rays down 1-0, Jonathan Aranda lashed one to right-center off Mark Leiter Jr. for extra bases
But when he tried for a triple, center fielder Trent Grisham got the ball to Volpe, whose quick-and-accurate relay throw to Oswaldo Cabrera nailed a stunned-looking Aranda.
“We practice that a lot,’’ said Volpe, crediting first base/infield coach Travis Chapman for the attention to detail there.
In the fifth, with one out and the infield in, Jose Caballero (leadoff double) was caught in a rundown between third and home as first baseman Paul Goldschmidt alertly fielded and started the play to erase the potential tying run.
Yankees' altered bullpen end game
Boone was intentionally staying away from closer Devin Williams, who threw just six pitches in Thursday night’s save of a 6-3 win.
Williams was ready to go, but Boone decided not to pitch Williams for the fourth time in five days, instead going to Luke Weaver, who got two strikeouts and a pop up in a quick ninth inning.
Weaver’s fastball velocity was back up, and “he was digging himself out there a little bit,’’ Boone said after Weaver’s second save this year.
Not lost was Fernando Cruz’s quick eighth inning work, with two more strikeouts on his filthy splitter.
“I’ve never seen as many bad swings from good hitters’’ as on Cruz’s splitter, said Boone of a pitch aided by Cruz’s rebuilt delivery this spring.
“I changed practically everything in spring training,’’ said Cruz, including where he stands on the pitching plate. It’s a “process I embraced’’ in camp, boosted by the club’s encouragement despite some shaky early results.
The key player in the deal that sent catcher Jose Trevino to Cincinnati this past winter, Cruz credited bullpen coach Mike Harkey for streamlining data to him and helping him “stay under control’’ while maximizing his intent and effort.
Rays rob the Yankees, too
On a very warm night when the wind was blowing in sharply, Ben Rice was robbed of his sixth homer of the year, as Rays’ right fielder Jose Caballero extended his glove over the fence to make a tremendous leaping grab with a man on first in the eighth inning.
To end the fourth, with none on, Morel made a sensational running-diving catch in left field, skidding along the warning track to take an extra-base hit from Grisham.
It was Grisham’s second inning, two-out RBI single that made the difference Friday, coming off Rays’ right-hander Drew Rasmussen, who lasted 5.2 innings.
Yankees' Austin Wells sits out
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Dealing with a touch of food poisoning, catcher Austin Wells sat out Friday night’s game.
JC Escarra started a second straight game behind the plate, as Wells was merely rested from Thursday’s lineup against the Rays.
But early Friday morning, Wells was having a rough time. “No idea what happened,’’ said Wells, adding that the illness was unrelated to his new pastime: Ranking breakfast burritos on social media.
Last week at Detroit, Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger missed one game due to food poisoning believed to have originated from a room-service order of wings.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Carlos Rodon grinds out a win, Yankees' defense contributes to 1-0 victory over the Rays
Continue reading...
