Yanks' bats go cold in the snow behind Rodón

DETROIT – The Yankees brought the most productive offense in the Majors into Monday afternoon’s 6-2 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.

The Bombers had set the MLB record with 25 homers in their first eight games, and their 8.4 runs per game were easily the most in either league entering this contest. But Detroit right-hander Casey Mize limited them to one run on four hits through six splendid innings, while striking out six with three walks.

A tame game at the plate was bound to happen, but the Yankees hadn’t scored fewer than three runs in any game -- and they had tallied at least nine runs five times.

“I thought we were very close there to really putting together a couple big innings,” said Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who liked the approach of his hitters. “... Mize, I thought, pitched well. But, actually, up and down the lineup, we had good at-bats. We just missed a handful of pitches. That’s hitting sometimes. He just beat us today.”

Ben Rice hit a one-out triple in the third, but with Aaron Judge batting, Tigers catcher Jake Rogers picked him off before Judge worked a walk. Cody Bellinger then lined out to end the inning.

“You can’t be that aggressive and we know Rogers likes to throw down there,” said Boone. “Benny was just too aggressive in his secondary [lead] -- almost as if we were going on contact. But it was a situation where we weren’t.”

Rice said: “It’s just poor baserunning. Like he said, I was being a little too aggressive. Getting caught on my front foot, a little too open. And he was able to pick me off. It doesn’t feel good, but now we learn from it and we move on.”

Left-hander Carlos Rodón (1-2, 5.19 ERA) started well with two scoreless innings against the Tigers. He had three strikeouts among the first six outs as he got batters chasing.

However, then Rodón walked Rogers and Ryan Kreidler -- Detroit’s Nos. 8 and 9 hitters -- and gave up a two-out three-run homer to third baseman Andy Ibá?ez in the third inning.

That suddenly changed the complexion of a game that had shown signs of becoming a Mize-Rodón pitching duel.

“I thought he threw the ball great,” Boone said of Rodón. “I really did. But he doesn’t get a call and the one mistake that turned into a three-run homer, [he] kind of yanked the changeup a little bit and Ibá?ez got him. But outside of that, I thought he was excellent.”

Rodón was not happy when a full-count pitch to Kreidler that appeared to catch the lower part of the strike zone was called ball four. Rodón, hands on hips, stared toward home plate, shaking his head.

“That 3-2 call -- I mean, looked like right there,” said Boone. “And then the yanked changeup that cost him.”

Rodón was asked if it was a call that had him wishing for challenges of ball-strike calls, which was experimented with during Spring Training.

“You just got to roll with the punches,” said Rodón. “Those aren’t the rules right now, and he called ‘em balls. You’ve got to move on to the next pitch.”

And while Rodón responded well initially by striking out Justyn-Henry Malloy for the second out, Ibá?ez then pulled that changeup on a 1-0 pitch into the left-field seats.

“Ibá?ez is really tough and turned into a guy that’s really tough against left-handed pitching," Boone said. "So, it’s a mistake.”

Two innings later, Malloy gave Detroit a 5-1 lead with a two-run single, scoring runners who had reached on an error by third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera and a walk.

“There’s a couple of pitches I want back,” said Rodón. “The one to Malloy, it was supposed to be up and away, and the same with the pitch to Ibá?ez. The walks to [the] eight and nine [batters], and another to Rogers as well. The bottom of the order, I’ve just got to go and attack.”

The Yankees had just gotten on the scoreboard in the top of the fifth with Judge getting his MLB-leading 18th RBI of the season on a screaming single past diving shortstop Javier Báez. It came off Judge's bat at 110 mph.

Rodón allowed six runs (five earned) on four hits. He did have good stuff, getting eight strikeouts, but also walked three. Rodón threw 103 pitches (65 for strikes), upping his pitch total by seven from his last outing. Boone said that was big, considering New York's bullpen was running on fumes.