Jorge Castillo, ESPN Writer Oct 14, 2024, 10:53pm ET
Close ESPN Baseball Reporter. He covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.
NEW YORK — On Thursday, as Gerrit Cole mowed down the Kansas City Royals in the New York Yankees’ Game 4 win in the American League Division Series, Carlos Rodon made mental notes from the dugout.
Not for anything Cole did for the Royals hitters. Not on his approach, choice of pitch, or mechanics. But on Cole’s behavior around the mound. Calm as he navigated the only jam he encountered. No screaming and fist pumps. So cool, so quiet.
“It’s just like a robot walking into the bunker,” Rodon noted.
Rodon’s emotions ruined his first postseason start, in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Royals. He saw Cole as a model to emulate. On Monday, in the most important start of his professional career, Rodon nailed the tradition, pitching six impressive innings in the Yankees’ 5-2 win over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.
Rodon held the Guardians to one run on three hits and no walks. He recorded nine strikeouts, seven of them on a slider with which he played his fastball to near perfection. He threw 93 pitches and caused 25 hits and an error — the most of any Yankees pitcher in a playoff game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), according to ESPN research. He was composed and was dominant as the Yankees moved within three wins in their first World Series appearance since 2009.
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“Oh my God, he was good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We talked about, ‘Will he take the experience of the first time?’ and I felt like he fully applied all of that. I thought he was in complete control of himself and his emotions.”
Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Luke Weaver followed Rodon off the bullpen to score the final nine points. The Guardians added a run in the eighth inning against Hill and threatened more before Weaver homered with one out and two runners on first and second.
The right-hander got out of the jam by striking out pinch hitter Will Brennan and coaxing star third baseman Jose Ramirez out. Weaver, a sloppy start turned closer, closed the door with three hits in the ninth inning, becoming the first Yankees player to save multiple runs since Aroldis Chapman in 2017.
Facing the Guardians for Rodon was Alex Cobb, a veteran right-hander who was making just his fifth start of 2024. He had just eight points before leaving with a pulled left thigh, back spasms and a mess to clean up the bullpen.
Cobb’s disintegration began with Juan Soto’s implosion in the third period. He then walked the bases loaded with two outs, prompting Cleveland manager Steven Vogt to call up left-hander Joey Cantillo to face left-handed slugger Anthony Rizzo, who was pitching in his first game since breaking two fingers on his right hand in the penultimate game of the league. Regular season 16 days ago. This move did not stem the tide.
Cantelo allowed two runs to score on two wild pitches around a walk to Rizzo. Gleyber Torres then walked to start the bottom of the fifth inning before opening up two more wild pitches, walking Soto, and getting one out without recording an out. Pedro Avila was called upon to confront Aaron Judge with runners on the corners and surrendered a sacrifice fly before escaping the inning.
“I didn’t execute the shots and obviously the control wasn’t there and I have to be better next time,” Cantelo said. “Obviously that performance was the difference in the game. So that’s down to me.”
Six Guardians pitchers combined for seven innings and five wild pitches, tying the MLB postseason record, according to ESPN research.
“Oh my God, he was good. We talked about would he take the experience of the first time? And I felt like he applied all of that perfectly. I thought he was in complete control of himself and his emotions.” Yankees manager Aaron Boone on Carlos Rodon
“These guys are counting,” Vogt said. “They’re not chasing a lot. I think if you take anything away from tonight, we’re just going to need to attack the zone better, and we didn’t do that tonight. They made us work.”
Rodon was even more excited when he took the mound in his first start of the postseason, a 4-2 loss to the Royals. He came out firing at first, filling the strike zone with 10 of 12 pitches and touching 98 mph. He stuck out his tongue. strut.
Monday was different. Stephen Cowan, one of the best contact hitters in the sport, flied out the ninth pitch of his bat to start the game. Rodon threw 22 pitches in the first inning and 39 in two. Then he changed gears.
Rodon retired 11 consecutive batters of the second inning until Brian Rocchio tagged a fastball for a solo home run to lead off the sixth. Seven of the eliminations came via knockout. And everyone was cringing.
“I thought he carried his stuff well,” Boone said. “I watched it with intensity, but with a lot of balance, and that’s what stood out.”
Rodon finished his night by winning a nine-pitch battle against Ramirez, who chased down a line drive that Judge chased into the warning track in center field. He came off the mound one last time to cheer. Cool and quiet, almost like a robot.
“The goal was to stay in control, stay in control of what I could do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodon said. “I thought I executed it well tonight.”
