Yankees’ Carlos Rodon looks to ‘build off of’ first win this season
Carlos Rodon can kiss his winless record goodbye.
In his fourth start with the Yankees, the left-hander picked up his first win of the season after a 3-1 victory over the Mets on Wednesday night.
The southpaw went 5.2 innings (93 pitches) giving up one run on four hits and three walks while striking out four. It was by far Rodon’s best start of the year and it came at just the right time for the Yankees.
“He made some big pitches tonight,” manager Aaron Boone said after the game. “It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t perfect, had some traffic on the bases, but a really big outing for him and for us.”
With a huge three-game series with the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles this weekend, the Yankees (54-48) could not afford being swept by the Mets (47-54), especially with the trade deadline less than a week away.
“I would have taken it about three starts ago but it’s nice to have it now and finally get it out of the way,” Rodon said of getting his first win. “Build off this start and see where we go from there.”
Rodon signed a six-year, $162 million contract over the offseason but was injured during spring training, delaying his Yankees debut. When he finally did make his first Yankee start, it was a solid outing against the Cubs, but each of the next two starts were progressively worse.
This was especially the case in his last outing when he faced the Angels in Anaheim. The 30-year-old gave up six runs over 4.1 innings and was seen blowing a kiss to jeering Yankee fans in the crowd.
It was a completely different story on Wednesday.
“It was nice to hear the fans happy with the performance. Glad to have something to build off of,” he said. “As a baseball player, as a professional you always want to show what you’re capable of doing. That’s the goal.”
So what was different this time? Rodon was more consistent with his fastball location and his slider was working early. And while Rodon laments the three walks he gave up, he says he can’t be upset with the win and the team’s performance.
And the Yankees can’t be upset with their No. 2 starter’s performance either. He missed most of spring training and hasn’t had the luxury of three months worth of starts to find his consistency on a new team.
But Boone echoed his starter, saying Wednesday’s start is one they hope Rodon and the team can build off of.
“It’s not been an easy road for him since spring training and trying to get back,” Boone said. “That hurt him. He wants to be out there. He knows he’s been brought here to be a big part of this team. And it took longer for him to get back than he would have liked. And I think that ate at him a lot. He’s here now and hopefully he keeps building momentum off of this one.”
