Carlos Rodon Makes Amends in Kansas City With Another Great Outing

The Yankees opened a four-game series in Kansas City with a solid 4-2 win behind Carlos Rodon and a lineup that welcomed back Juan Soto, but was without Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo who all took a day off. And down in Box Score Briefs, a run around the American League to update you on the pennant race. Lets get to it.

June 10: Yankees 4, Royals 2

The last time Carlos Rodon stood on the mound at Kaufman Stadium, he wasn’t out there very long, though it probably seemed like it was days.

In his last appearance of his disastrous 2023 debut season with the Yankees on Sept. 29, Rodon did not retire a batter in the first inning and ultimately was charged with eight earned runs, and during the onslaught when pitching coach Matt Blake came out to check on him, Rodon turned his back, unwilling to listen to whatever he had to say. It was as bad a look as imaginable, and it sent Rodon into a soul-searching offseason.

Well, clearly Rodon has put all that behind him after he muffled the Royals Monday with seven outstanding innings allowing just one run on five hits and no walks with 74 strikes among his 103 pitches including 15 swinging misses.

“I definitely knew this game was coming,” Rodón said after lowering his ERA to 2.93. “It was circled on the calendar, and I wanted to show up and give my team the best chance to win after coming out of here last year with what happened and not pitching well. I definitely remembered that. I tried to flush it early on, but you know, it’s hard to get that one out of your head. And it wasn’t just one start, it was a culmination of the whole ‘23 season that wasn’t so great. That definitely motivated me.”

In his past seven starts, he is 7-0 with a 2.28 ERA and he has made it through at least six innings in nine of his last 10 outings. Suddenly, that six-year, $162 million contract looks a whole lot better than it did last season.

This was quite a victory when you consider Aaron Boone decided to give Aaron Judge a rest for the first time after he’d played the first 67 games, and he also sat out slumping Giancarlo Stanton and Anthony Rizzo. So that meant Trent Grisham was in center, Jahmai Jones was in right, Oswaldo Cabrera was at third, and DJ LeMahieu played first. That’s not exactly Murderers’ Row.

And in the DH spot there was Juan Soto who was back after missing the Dodgers series and who said afterward that his forearm continues to feel better, so it does look like the Yankees dodged a cannon ball there.

Here are my observations:

➤ Home runs are still the best way to score runs, but all of you small ball enthusiasts must have loved this game as the Yankees manufactured all four of their runs in a pair of spurts in the first and fourth innings without a homer, or even an extra-base hit. On the night, they bunted three times, the first game they’ve done that since 2012. I hate bunts in almost every situation, but I’ll concede a couple of them worked out.

➤ Seth Lugo started for the Royals and the Yankees caught him at the right time. In his first 12 starts he allowed only 15 earned runs for an ERA of 1.72, but in his last two against the Guardians and Yankees, he gave up nine and in taking the loss in this game, his record fell to 9-2.

➤ His problems started right away as Soto, Gleyber Torres and Alex Verdugo singled consecutively for a run in the first, and then LeMahieu dropped down a perfect safety squeeze to plate a second run. In the fourth, LeMahieu singled, Grisham was hit by a pitch, Jones sacrificed them to second and third, and Jose Trevino made that bunt pay off as he delivered a clutch two-out, two-run single to make it 4-0. That was all the Yankees would get, but it was enough thanks to Rodon.

➤ The Royals didn’t score until the seventh when Rodon - who had given up just two hits to that point - allowed three singles, the last by Freddy Fermin that drove in a run. They added one in the eighth off Ian Hamilton who in between striking out the side, gave up a single and an RBI double to Bobby Witt Jr. Salvador Perez was the tying run at the plate, but he struck out, so credit to Hamilton for that, but his inconsistency has grown quite annoying.

➤ Then in the ninth, with Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes also getting a rest day, Boone turned to Michael Tonkin for the save. Wow, from getting released by both the Twins and Mets in April, to signing with the Yankees as a mop up man, to being called on for a save, that’s quite an arc for the 34-year-old. But hey, he’s been one of the best bullpen arms the Yankees have had. He walked a batter, but he got the job done and recorded the second save of his career. Tonkin's 0.89 ERA since April 26 is the second-lowest in MLB among all pitchers with at least 20 innings pitched.

➤ I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a player smile more during a game than Jones. This was only his third start of the year and he has just 15 plate appearances, but it’s clear why he’s still here. His attitude. The guy just loves being on the team, even though he hardly plays.

➤ After seeing his 34-game on-base streak end Sunday night, Anthony Volpe went a second straight game without reaching base. After getting his average to .290, he’s down to .275 because he’s in a 3-for-24 rut with no walks in his last five games.

I thought I’d spend the next couple days in this space taking a look at the six division races to get you up to speed on what’s happening outside of the Bronx. Today, a look at the American League.

⚾ AL East: The Yankees lead the Orioles by 2.5 games and I still struggle to believe that the order is going to remain this way for the rest of the season. Yes, I realize the Yankees have the second-best record in MLB (47-21), but the Orioles (43-22) have the third-best and that young lineup and pitching staff is so good. The Yankees have legit problems at the corner infield spots, the bullpen is good but not great, and there’s always the looming concern with injuries on a team that has age like the Yankees.

Of course the Orioles could suffer injuries, too, but they aren’t as susceptible when half their team is in their mid-20s. They lead MLB with 104 home runs, they’re third in team OPS (.763) and they lead MLB with 336 runs scored, one more than the Yankees. On the mound, the rotation led by Corbin Burnes, Kyle Bradish Cole Irvin and Grayson Rodriguez has a 3.06 ERA, behind only the Phillies and Yankees.

It’s somewhat surprising, though certainly enjoyable, that the Red Sox (33-33), Blue Jays (32-34) and Rays (31-35) are all mediocrities and don’t seem capable of becoming threats to the Yankees for either the division or a wild card spot this year. The Jays have the best roster among those three and the best chance to make some noise, but it better start happening soon or it’s not going to matter.

⚾ AL Central: The Guardians (42-22) are one of the most surprising stories in MLB this season, a franchise that doesn’t spend much money and did almost nothing to upgrade its roster from 2023. Yet somehow, they’ve gone from ranking 27th in runs scored per game to third this year, thanks mainly to Jose Ramirez and his 18 homers and 62 RBI. But Josh Naylor has 16 homers and 47 RBI, and three of the top 20 in OPS are Guardians - David Fry (1.046), Steven Kwan (.955) and Ramírez (.890).

They lead another of the most surprising teams, the Royals (39-28), by 4.5games. Kansas City didn’t win its 39th game last year until Aug. 14, a season when they won only 56. Crazy. Bobby Witt is a superstar having a great season - .319/.369/.556, 11 homers, 48 RBI, 19 stolen bases, a .925 OPS. The Twins (35-31) are one of the streakiest teams in MLB. They had a 12-game winning streak, but they’ve also had losing streaks of 4, 5, 7, and 5. Bizarre team.

⚾ AL West: The Mariners (38-30) have put a little distance between them and the defending champion Rangers (31-34) and Astros (30-37), but it’s not like Seattle has been all that impressive either. However, that pitching staff is pretty damn good as their starter ERA is sixth-best at 3.46. The best guy they have is probably George Kirby (11.1 strikeouts per nine) but he has the worst ERA at 3.81. Bryan Woo, who dominated the Yankees, has a 1.07 ERA in his six starts. Oh, and Julio Rodriguez seems to be waking up after his awful start. Since going 1-for-16 against the Yankees, he’s hitting .313 with an .824 OPS in his last 17 games.

The Rangers have just been decimated by injuries and they can’t get going. Now Corey Seager missed last weekend with a hamstring, though it doesn’t appear he’ll go on the IL. Max Scherzer is getting close to returning as he made a rehab start at Triple-A Sunday. Also, starter Jon Gray is back, but they’re still missing third baseman Josh Jung, outfielder Evan Carter, and reliever Josh Sborz, while Jacob deGrom, unlike Scherzer, has not begun rehab games.

As for the Astros, I still think they can win this division, even after they blew a 3-1 lead in the 10th Monday night when reliever Rafael Montero gave up four singles and made an error to hand the Giants a 4-3 victory. They just have too many players who’ve excelled for too long and they’ve weathered a bad start because the Mariners and Rangers haven’t been able to pull away. Yes, losing starters Cristian Javier and Jose Urquidy for the season hurts, but they will be getting back Lance McCullers and Luis Garcia later in the summer in time for the stretch. Kyle Tucker, who is having an MVP-type season, is expected to come off the IL later this week, and Alex Bregman has emerged from a truly gruesome start to help out Tucker, Jose Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Jeremy Pena who have been studs through the losing.