Carlos Rodon delivered seven dominant innings to help the Yankees avoid getting swept

Cleveland—The Yankees took down the Guardians 5-1 in the finale of this three-game series to avoid being swept. Carlos Rodon got the start for the Yankees, and Luis L. Ortiz took the ball for the Guardians. 

Ben Rice worked a seven-pitch leadoff walk to start this game in the top of the first. The next batter, Aaron Judge, hit a long RBI triple off the top of the left center field wall that would have been a home run in 28 out of 30 parks, his 26th RBI of the season, to quickly make it 1-0 Yankees. A couple of batters later, Paul Godlscmhidt picked up an RBI double to make it a 2-0 game before the Guardians could record an out. 

“It was good to get out there and get some runs early,” Goldschmidt said. “Then Carlos (Rodon) did a great job for us. I know we didn't score a ton of runs the first couple of games of this series, but we were still having good at-bats, a couple of close games where we were maybe one swing away from winning, so we came in here confident and just overall a great game.” 

The Guardians immediately responded with an RBI single from Jose Ramirez to make it a 2-1 game. A two-base error from center fielder Cody Bellinger allowed the run to score, and Ramirez to move up to third. 

In the top of the second inning, Jasson Dominguez led things off with a walk, then stole second base. A couple of batters later, Ben Rice picked up an RBI single to drive in Dominguez and extend the Yankees' lead to 3-1. Then Paul Goldschmidt picked up a big two-out RBI single to make it a 4-1 ballgame. 

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Rodon struck out the Guardians in order, to put his total up to six strikeouts. 

Rodon worked around a one-out single in the bottom of the fifth and picked up his seventh strikeout of the game as well. 

In the top of the sixth inning, Cody Bellinger picked up a two-out single, and the next batter, Goldy, crushed a double in the left center gap, his third hit of the day. But, the Gurdains executed a perfect replay throw to gun down Bellinger at the plate for the third out of the inning. 

On just eight pitches, Rodon retired the Guardians in order in the bottom of the sixth inning. 

In the top of the seventh, Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a leadoff walk and immediately stole second base. A couple of batters later, Austin Wells ripped an RBI double off the wall in left field to make it a 5-1 Yankees lead. 

Rodon worked a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh inning and picked up his eighth strikeout of the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the eighth inning, Fernando Cruz replaced Rodon on the mound. Cruz retired the Guardians in order and picked up two strikeouts. 

Carlos Rodon’s final line: Seven innings pitched, four hits allowed, one unearned run, two walks, and eight strikeouts on 90 pitches. Rodon threw his fastball 43% of the time, changeup 21%, slider 20%, curveball 9%, and sinker 7% of the time. The first two innings were a bit of a grind for Rodon, but he settled in really nicely for the last five innings. 

“I felt like defensively the boys picked me up,” Rodon said. “They made some plays in the infield… that helped me go deep, I just kinda found a rhythm there in the second. Austin was calling pitches, and I felt like I was already gripping the pitch before he called it, so we were on the same page throughout the whole game, and he called a great game.”

In the bottom of the ninth, Luke Weaver replaced Cruz on the mound and recorded three loud warning track flyouts to end this ballgame 5-1 final with some help from Cody Bellinger with a beautiful running catch to end it, and help the Yankees avoid getting swept.

“Wow,” Manager Aaron Boone said about Bellingers' catch to end the game. “I didn't see the jump. I think he misread it originally, but that's a really tough over-the-shoulder catch there.”

The Yankees will finally have an off day tomorrow, ending a span of 13 games in 13 days during which they finished with an 8-5 record. On Friday night, the Yankees will return to the Bronx to start a big AL East series against the Blue Jays. The first pitch will be at 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Rodon was awesome. It would be huge for the Yankees if Rodon could start consistently pitching at an elite level like this with Gerrit Cole out for the season. Judge had another great game, as he had two more hits plus an RBI today. Goldy also had three more hits today and two RBIs. Jasson Dominguez also had two hits and an RBI, plus Jazz and Bellinger also put together some better at-bats today. Volpe struck out four times. Volpe needs a day off; he looks so lost at the plate right now. Yankees have a much-needed off day tomorrow, then they have to turn their attention to taking at least two out of three games from the Jays