TORONTO — In a span of three starts, Carlos Rodon’s ERA has inflated from 2.93 to 4.42, and that is not just the work of the Canadian exchange rate.
Neither is the Yankees going from 49-21 to 52-31 in just over two weeks.
But one of the key components fueling their recent skid has been their starting pitching falling off, which continued Thursday night at Rogers Centre.
Carlos Rodon walks back to the mound as George Springer runs the bases after hitting a three-run homer in the Yankees’ 9-2 loss to the Blue Jays.AP
The Blue Jays became the latest team to pounce on Rodon and his fastball, jumping out to an eight-run lead and handing the Yankees their season-high fourth straight loss, 9-2.
“They put some really good swings on some fastballs tonight that I didn’t execute,” Rodon said. “It was not fun.”
Coming off a Subway Series in which the Mets rocked Gerrit Cole and Luis Gil, Rodon could not stop the bleeding as the Yankees lost for the 10th time in their last 13 games.
George Springer crushed a pair of three-run home runs off Rodon fastballs before the left-hander could record a fifth out.
The second one was a 434-foot shot on a fastball down the middle, putting the Yankees in an early 8-0 hole that their mostly scuffling lineup could not dig its way out of.
While the damage was already done, Rodon began to mix in his other pitches more often after the second inning, which allowed him to make it through five innings in what manager Aaron Boone described as a “gutsy effort” to save the bullpen.
George Springer took Carlos Rodon deep as the Yankees lefty struggled.USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con
“Clearly we gotta execute better,” Boone said. “We gotta make better decisions about pitch selection in certain situations. We gotta get it right, and confident we will. It’s in there to fix this.”
Rodon gave up eight runs on 10 hits against the Blue Jays (37-43) after surrendering eight runs on 11 hits to the Braves his last time out.
Over his last three starts, he has been clobbered for 21 runs (20 earned) on 28 hits across 13 ²/₃ innings, offering shades of the 2023 Rodon that he had spent his first 14 starts of the season trying to scrub from the memory bank.
Much of the damage has come against his fastball. Rodon pointed to a lack of command with the pitch while Boone said he has sensed opponents selling out for it.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. celebrates after hitting an RBI double in the first inning.Getty Images
“It can be something along the lines of just changing the mix will probably increase the fastball effectiveness, I would hope,” Rodon said. “Mix in some sliders and changeups and change some tunnels and get them thinking different.”
Rodon’s recent struggles are just part of the Yankees’ sudden problem.
Through June 14, their rotation had the lowest ERA in the majors at 2.77 across its first 72 games of the season.
In the Yankees’ 11 games since, their starters have combined to post a 8.65 ERA, allowing 50 earned runs in 52 innings.
Carlos Rodon checks his grip during the second inning of the Yankees’ loss.AP
Not surprisingly, it has coincided with the rut the Yankees find themselves in overall.
Before Springer bludgeoned Rodon the first time, he was the victim of some soft contact, including Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s broken-bat bloop RBI double and a squibber down the first-base line from Justin Turner that Ben Rice tried to let go foul.
But it stayed fair and then bounced off the bag, allowing Turner to reach safely.
“I thought it was going to start eventually kicking past the line and it didn’t,” Rice said. “Probably should have come and gotten it.”
Trent Grisham’s two-run homer in the fifth inning was the Yankees’ only source of offense against Jose Berrios.
In the bottom of the frame, Rodon talked Boone into allowing him to try to get out of a jam.
During their meeting on the mound, reliever Phil Bickford had started running in from the bullpen, only to turn around when Boone walked back to the dugout without signaling to him.
Rodon went on to finish the inning, which was important to him to “prove something to myself that even though I got knocked down, I can get back up and just keep going.”
Boone appreciated the fight.
“These are little things in the season that suck right now, but that also make me continue to feel really good about this group and where we’re going,” Boone said. “We’ll look back on this time and it’ll be something that I know is going to end up being good for us.”
Source : nypost.com
