All-Star Rodon dominates, Bellinger belts 3 HRs in Yankees’ 5th straight win

New York—The Yankees dominated the Cubs 11-0 tonight behind a three-home run day from Cody Bellinger and a dominant start from Rodon, who was named an All-Star today, to win their fifth straight. Rodon has completely turned around his Yankees career since a disastrous first season in Pinstripes back in 2023,  and faced off against Chris Flexin, who took the ball for the Cubs. 

"Yeah, I mean, you know, just kind of roll with the punches, one of those things," Rodon said. "It's part of baseball. Sometimes you're good, sometimes you're bad. And we try to trend on the good line more often than not. And just, you know, I wasn't good when I first got here. And I just wanted to prove that I wasn't going to give up, and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can."

Rodon worked around a one-out single from hopefully future Yankee Kyle Tucker in the top of the first inning. Rodon also picked up his first strikeout of the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the first inning, Aaron Judge worked a one-out walk, but that would be all for the Yankees. 

Rodon recorded three strikeouts in the top of the second inning to help work around a two-out single and quickly put his strikeout total up to four on the night. 

Oswald Peraza led off the bottom of the third inning with an infield single. Jasson Dominguez followed that up with a single to center, allowing Peraza to go first to third. Aaron Judge then got the scoring started via a sacrifice fly to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The next batter, Cody Bellinger, launched a two-run home run to extend the Yankees' lead to 3-0, his 14th of the year and now on a career-high 16-game hitting streak. 

In the top of the fourth inning, Judge made an unbelievable catch in right field to rob All-Star Pete Crow-Armstrong of a home run and help Rodon retire the Cubs in order. 

Rodon worked a 1-2-3 top of the fifth inning and picked up his sixth strikeout of the ballgame in the process. 

Dominguez legged out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning. A couple of batters later, Belli Bombs launched a two-run home run, his second of the night, to make it a 5-0 game. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Paul Goldschmidt led things off with a double into the right field corner. A couple batters later, Anthony Volpe lined a RBI double down the third base line to extend the Yankees' lead to 6-0. 

Rodon retired the Cubs in order in the top of the seventh inning and picked up his eighth strikeout of the ballgame. 

Belli Bombs made a bid for his third home run of the night in the bottom of the seventh inning, but Tucker brought it back, making a beautiful catch. Ben Rice then lined a single up the middle. Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed that up with a single to right field. Goldy Knocks then made it a 7-0 game via an RBI single, his second knock of the night. J.C. Escara then joined the party with an RBI single to make it an 8-0 game. 

“It was a great catch, I was watching it, he timed it up perfectly,” Belli said on Tucker's catch. “I was a little sick about it, honestly, but it was a good catch." 

In the top of the eighth inning, Rodon walked a batter and gave up a two-out single. Then it looked like Aaron Boone was coming out to take Rodon out, but he decided to keep him in, which ended up working out thanks to Judge's third remarkable catch of the game to rob Tucker of extra bases. 

"When that last one came up, I was like, 'I gotta run through this wall. I gotta make this play for him,” Judge said about his catch in the eighth.

Judge worked a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth inning. The next batter, Belli Bombs crushed a two-run homer, his third home run of the night and 16th of the year, to make it a 10-0 game. Belli then received a well-deserved curtain call. A couple batters later, Goldy Knocks made it an 11-0 game with an RBI double into the left field corner, his third hit of the night. 

"I knew with PCA out there, man. I mean, he's a freak athlete, and you know, shout out to the home fans there for catching that one. I think it was pretty close. So, that was fun," Belli said about his third home run.”

Carlos Rodon's final line: eight innings pitched, four hits allowed, one walk, 17 swings and misses, and eight strikeouts on 109 pitches. Rodon threw his slider 48% of the time, the fastball 39%, the sinker 9%, and the changeup 5% of the time. Rodon had it all working tonight, putting together his best start as a Yankee the same day he was named to the AL All-Star team, and his ERA is now down to 3.09 on the year. 

"I mean, Aaron Judge made three incredible plays for me," Rodon said on throwing eight shutout innings. "So that was part of it. And then, obviously, Belli, with three homers offensively, we swung the bat well. It just gave me a cushion to be able to go out there and be in the zone and attack. And as you know, defensively, we were pretty spectacular, some hard-hit ground balls. The infield made some great plays. And then once again, Judge, doing his thing, not only with the bat, but with the glove today. So helped me get through eight."

Scott Effross took over for Rodon on the mound in the top of the ninth inning and picked up the final three outs of the ballgame to end this one 11-0.

The Yankees will go for the series win tomorrow with Max Fried on the mound, facing off against first-time All-Star Matthew Boyd. The first pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: What a win for the Yankees. Belli Bombs dominated his former team, the Cubs, making them regret trading him to the Yankees in the offseason in a big way. Rodon, after being named an All-Star this morning, replaces Fried, who has opted not to pitch on Tuesday in Atlanta. Judge made three beautiful catches in right field tonight, as this could be the year he wins his first career Gold Glove. The offense was firing on all cylinders tonight with 15 hits and 11 runs against an outstanding Cubs team. Rice, Dominguez, and Peraza each had two hits tonight. Goldy Knocks also put together a three-hit night. Spencer Jones also launched his sixth home run since being promoted to AAA tonight, as his trade stock is quickly rising with the trade deadline approaching on July 31st. On to tomorrow with a chance to win the series with Fried on the bump.

"Yeah, it's an honor," Rodon said on being named an All-Star. "Obviously, it is an honor for me to represent the Yankees, but I think my middle son is going to have a blast. Bo is a big Yankees fan, and I think he's excited to watch Jazz and Judge do their thing. So it's going to be fun to see how he gets to experience it, and he just really understands what's going on now. So it is going to be fun for me to watch it."