NEW YORK -- Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón had command of his pitches on Opening Day last week against the Brewers, but it was a different story in the early innings on Wednesday night, and it proved costly in a 4-3 loss to the D-backs at Yankee Stadium.
It was a cold night in the Bronx: 42 degrees at first pitch, and Rod¨®n had a tough time finding his rhythm early. He acknowledged his fastball velocity was down, but he wasn¡¯t concerned.
Based on what he did the first two innings, it looked like Rod¨®n was in for a short night. Three batters into the game, Rod¨®n was down, 2-0, after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a two-run homer on an 0-2 pitch. An inning later, Arizona added two more runs against Rod¨®n. Eugenio Su¨¢rez scored on a sacrifice fly by Geraldo Perdomo, while Gabriel Moreno came home on a single by Ketel Marte to make it a four-run game.
Rod¨®n settled down after the second, pitching four scoreless innings while retiring the last 10 hitters that he faced.
¡°[Early in the game] maybe it was just a little weather-related, a little cooler and stuff,¡± Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. ¡°[Rod¨®n] was searching to find the strike zone a little bit there in those first couple of innings, but I thought stuff-wise, once he settled in, he was pretty good.¡±
Rod¨®n received a scare with one out in the fifth inning. Marte hit a line drive that hit Rod¨®n on the right forearm, but Rod¨®n recovered to throw Marte out at first. Rod¨®n ended up pitching another 1 1/3 innings before leaving the game.
¡°It was pretty fortunate that it wasn¡¯t his throwing arm and [the ball] got him on the fat [part] of the arm, not on the bone,¡± Boone said. ¡°It could have been worse. He had a bruise, and it swelled up on him. He was able to get some compression [on the arm] and threw the sleeves on the arm.¡±
Rod¨®n said the arm was OK, but his mind was on the start of the game. He experienced problems with command, and it took too long to make adjustments.
¡°I wish it was sooner. I needed to be quicker with it. I wish I had it click earlier and kept that game closer,¡± Rod¨®n said. ¡°I gave some free passes. I gave them some easy runs. I needed to be a little more crisp with the lines.¡±
In their first four games, the Yankees scored 41 runs, but D-backs right-hander Zac Gallen limited New York to three hits in 6 2/3 innings. The only time New York had a chance to score off the right-hander was in the second inning. The Yankees had runners on second and third with one out, but Jasson Dom¨ªnguez and Ben Rice struck out to end the threat. After that, Gallen retired 14 out of the next 15 hitters before allowing a single to Austin Wells.
¡°It will be a game we will look back on,¡± Boone said of Gallen. ¡°He was just dialed in. He had both breaking balls going. The changeup was working. He was moving the fastball around. It has that ride -- that cut on it. He had one heck of a night. He was really dealing. He made it tough on us.¡±
One thing can be said about the 2025 Yankees: They don¡¯t give up easily.
Right-hander Ryan Thompson was on the mound in the ninth inning when Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge reached base on consecutive singles. Thompson left the game in favor of left-hander A.J. Puk, who allowed a three-run homer to Anthony Volpe to make it a one-run game. It was Volpe¡¯s fourth hit of the season, all have been homers.
New York fell short after Wells popped up to Moreno behind the plate, then Dom¨ªnguez struck out to end the game.
¡°We weren¡¯t able to put together a rally, but it was a tough one tonight,¡± Boone said.