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Yankees’ Carlos Rodón dominates in ALCS Game 1 win vs. Guardians

Vaseline October 15, 2024

NEW YORK – Before the biggest start of his life, Carlos Rodón took advantage of the tools that life as a New York Yankee brings.

And then he justified the significant investment New York has made in his burly left arm.

Monday night at Yankee Stadium, Rodón lived up to the expectations the Yankees placed on him when he signed a six-year, $162 million contract ahead of the 2023 season. Two seasons of injury-plagued, erratic 4.74-ERA teeth grinding were nearly forgotten with every Cleveland Guardian swing and miss, every out hanging on the scoreboard.

And in Game 1 of this American League Championship Series, Rodón not only joined in the postseason celebration blossoming in the Bronx, but also showed that he could be a major reason why the Yankees World Series banner no. 28 could hang.

New York posted a 5-2 victory to claim a 1-0 ALCS lead, thanks in no small part to its power, literally and financially. Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton each put home run balls into the outfield bullpens. Newly minted closer Luke Weaver extinguished a blitz in the eighth, stranding the tying run at the plate, and continued his perfect postseason by striking out in the ninth for a five-out save.

Still, it was Rodón who gave the Yankees the edge, making up for many of his regular-season shortcomings with six dominant innings when it mattered most.

“He was the driver tonight,” said Stanton, who capped the Yankees’ scoring with a 400-foot hit to left field in the seventh inning, passing Yogi Berra and Reggie Jackson with his 13^e post-career season home run.

“He showed how prepared and focused he was.”

The Yankees have three World Series wins for the first time since 2009 and are now 4-1 in this postseason; that only blemish is Rodón’s.

He came up big in Game 2 of the Division Series against Kansas City, powering through three scoreless innings and cheering in a manner befitting a sprint, not the long-haul work that marks any prosperous run in October.

Still, he hit the wall and blew the lead that night in the fourth inning, giving up all four runs and failing to complete the frame. With ace Gerrit Cole throwing the clincher in Kansas City and Rodón getting the Game 1 ball in the ALCS, that simply couldn’t happen anymore.

So Rodón listened and learned. He got a “debrief,” as pitching coach Matt Blake put it, from his pinstriped mentor, fellow lefty Andy Pettitte, about channeling emotions in the postseason. He watched and learned as Cole looked like he was flatlining for six innings in the Kansas City clincher, only letting it all loose when he logged the 21 innings.^st out of the game.

Rodón did him one better.

He started the night by winning a nine-pitch battle with perhaps baseball’s toughest out, Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan. He topped it off with a nine-pitch battle against Cleveland’s perennial All-Star, Jose Ramirez.

The switch-hitter smoked that final pitch to center field, where Aaron Judge reached into the gap to track down the ball.

It was Rodón’s 93^rd pitch. His night was finally over. But even then, he kept what he called Cole’s “poker face,” simply pointing to the 6-7 judge in appreciation.

“The goal was to just keep control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” says Rodón. “I thought I performed so well tonight.

“I watched Gerrit throw that Game 4 in Kansas City, and mentally I was making notes about how he went there and handled it, and I just wanted to handle it the same way.”

At one point, Rodón retired 11 batters in a row, and 13 of his last 15 batters. He collected an astonishing 25 swings and misses, almost all on his deadly fastball-slider combo, struck out nine and walked none.

The home runs from Soto and Stanton were supplemented by a stark performance by Guardians starter Alex Cobb and reliever Joey Cantillo, who combined to walk six and record nine outs. Cantillo bounced a pair of wild pitches with the bases loaded, allowing Judge and Stanton to run home with extra points.

Brayan Rocchio sullied Rodón’s shutout bid with a leadoff homer in the sixth, and Cleveland nearly ambushed the Yankees with three straight singles in the eighth inning from reliever Tim Hill. That only hastened Weaver’s entrance – to a techno-fied version of Gary Wright’s ‘Dream Weaver’. He struckout four of the six batters he faced for his fourth save this postseason.

Cole will start Game 2. The Yankees are poised to take command before this series shifts to Ohio.

“There are three more to be had,” Stanton says. “So we know this is good, but in our view we have not done anything yet.

“We have to win three out of six, and we consider that three out of three.”

Still, it was hard for the Yankees to ignore the significance of winning Game 1 and being the leading man in that affair, and how Rodón adjusted after his last time out.

“There was some fuss about how the outing ended last time after it was so sharp early,” said Blake, the pitching coach. “To see him come out and play six solid innings, I thought it was huge for everyone, including him. To put that outing behind you and now get ready for the next one.

“He was very aware of what the final outing would ultimately be and how the emotions were getting away from him early on. And after every inning you could see him trying to stay steady and neutral and keep collecting outs.”

Blake said that when Rodón’s emotions were running high, the Royals “took note and talked about it.” And it’s like we don’t have to open that up to the other team.”

No problem. On Monday, Rodón remained medium all night, a trait that will serve him well if he is needed for a Game 5 start. For now, it would be hard to top this outing as a career highlight.

“There’s no bigger stage in baseball,” Rodón says, “so I’d say it’s definitely there.

Well, there is another, bigger, stage. And Rodón pushed the Yankees that much closer.

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