Yankees 3, Tigers 10: Another Rodón clunker dashes sweep hopes

The Yankees had a chance to sweep consecutive series for the first time this season, right up until the moment Carlos Rodón stepped on the mound. The clunkers keep piling up for the southpaw free agent signing, this time surrendering seven runs to the Tigers in under four innings. New York’s offense meanwhile could never maintain momentum beyond a few spurts as they drop the series finale, 10-3.

Rodón had looked sharper of late, holding opponents to two or fewer runs in each of his previous three starts, but that flew out the window in the first inning tonight against a Detroit offense that will never be confused with some of the Prime Miguel Cabrera early-2010s clubs. He ran the count to a quick 0-2 against leadoff hitter Matt Vierling but ended up surrendering a double, setting up a Spencer Torkelson two-run homer over the short porch to put the Yankees in a 2-0 hole early. It was the 12th home run Rodón has surrendered this season in 43 innings, equaling his total of 12 in 178 innings last season.

New York clawed half of that back in the bottom of the second with Gleyber Torres leading off the inning with a oppo shot.

The blast gives Torres 25 on the year, his second-highest total after the 38 he launched in the juiced ball campaign of 2019. The Yankees’ second baseman has been red hot of late as this is now his fifth home run in the last eight games. They had a chance for more, putting runners on the corners with two outs following a pair of walks by Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Volpe, but Everson Pereira bounced into the inning-ending double play, continuing his high ground-ball trend since his call-up, as he’s been the slowest of all the kids to acclimate to the big leagues.

Unfortunately, things only went downhill from there for Rodón. Andre Lipcius led off the third with a single and was driven home on a double by Vierling. After advancing to third on a fly out, Vierling came around to score on an Andy Ibañez sac fly to extend the Tigers’ lead, 4-1.

The final nail in Rodón’s coffin came in the fourth. Kerry Carpenter led off with a single and scored on a Tyler Nevin double. Vierling singled to plate Nevin and bring Torkelson to the plate, but at that point, manager Aaron Boone had seen enough and pulled Rodón for Randy Vásquez. On the second pitch Vásquez threw, Torkelson launched his second two-run blast of the contest to put the Tigers up, 8-1, and close out Rodón’s line for the night.

You could make a serious case that this was Rodón’s worst start in what’s been a disaster of a season for last winter’s big-money free agent signing. His fastball was operating one mph below his season average and far too many were mislocated in the lower half of the zone. He has only one start this season in which he’s prevented the opposition from homering, giving up almost 2.5 per nine in his 10 starts. Rodón’s final line saw him last just 3.2 innings, giving up seven runs on eight hits and no walks with four strikeouts on 73 pitches.

New York managed a pair of consolation runs in the bottom half, with Torres leading off with a walk and Volpe singling to put a pair on for Pereira. The rookie atoned for the double play by lacing a double to left to plate both runners and reduce the arrears to 8-3.

That would conclude the Yankees’ scoring in the contest, despite putting a pair on in each of the eighth and ninth innings. However, the Tigers were not finished. Facing Albert Abreu in the eighth, Vierling singled for his fourth hit of the day, leading to an Ibañez two-run blast to push Detroit’s scoring into double-digits, bringing us to our final score, 10-3.

Thus, the Bombers drop their first game since promoting Jasson Domínguez and Austin Wells on September 1st. Next up, they’ll welcome the NL Central-leading Brewers to the Stadium. Luis Severino faces Colin Rea in the opener — first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 pm ET, so be sure to join us in the game thread.

Box Score