Braves blitz Carlos Rodón as Yankees lose 3rd in a row
NEW YORK — The Yankees dropped their third straight game on Friday after the Braves jumped on Carlos Rodón.
Atlanta wasted no time in its 8-1 win, as Ozzie Albies followed Jarred Kelenic’s leadoff single with a two-run homer off of the southpaw. Austin Riley also went deep in the first inning, giving the Braves a 3-0 lead before the Yankees could bat.
A Kelenic single handed the Braves another run in the second. Ramón Laureano followed up with an RBI double in the third.
Matt Olson added a two-run homer in the fourth frame before Sean Murphy doubled. The Braves scored an additional run on the play while Murphy advanced to third, as Jahmai Jones misplayed the ball in left field.
That ended Rodón’s evening. He totaled 3 2/3 innings, 11 hits, eight runs (seven earned), two walks, nine hard-hit balls and 93 pitches.
Atlanta’s first five hits, including the Albies and Riley home runs, came against Rodón’s fastball. He threw the pitch 30 times, including eight times in the first inning.
While other offerings didn’t yield better results — Olson hammered a slider, which Rodón threw 29 times — the Braves were able to feast on his No. 1 pitch. It’s safe to say they expected it, as Rodón was throwing his four-seamer 53.4% of the time overall and 60.1% of the time for first pitches prior to Thursday, according to Baseball Savant.
The night marked Rodón’s second poor start in a row, as the Red Sox also ripped a few of his early heaters on June 15. Rodón gave up five earned runs in the first two innings of that game before settling in.
He entered that start with a 2.93 ERA, but he left Friday’s outing with a mark of 3.86.
Rodón was relieved by Yoendrys Gómez, who was called up earlier in the day. A starter in the minors, the righty didn’t allow another run over 4 2/3 innings. He also tallied three hits, three walks and five strikeouts while sparing the Yankees’ exhausted, restructured bullpen.
While Rodón pitched more like his 2023 self against Atlanta, Chris Sale continued to look like the “vintage” version of himself. That was how Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the contorting lefty before he held the Yankees to one earned run over five innings.
Sale also struck out eight and walked three while lowering his ERA to 2.91.
The Bombers’ lone run off of Sale followed a Jones flyball, which dropped well in front of the warning track after Adam Duvall misjudged it in the second inning. With the wind blowing in, Jones, batting fifth for a rare start, was credited with a triple. He scored on a DJ LeMahieu groundout.
Yankees hitters will try for a better showing on Saturday when Charlie Morton starts for the Braves. The veteran right-hander has pitched well against the Yanks in the past and has a 3.91 ERA in his 17th season.
Marcus Stroman, also looking to rebound from a bad start in Boston, will start for the Yankees.