Two costly mistakes from Carlos Rodon were the difference in the finale of this series to help the Giants win 5-4

New York—Back in the Bronx for the rubber match of this three-game series between the Yankees and the Giants. Carlos Rodon got the ball for the Yankees and matched up against his former team, and his teammate Logan Webb who took the mound for the Giants and helped lead them to a 5-4 win.

Carlos Rodon worked an easy 1-2-3 top of the 1st inning and picked up a strikeout as well. 

In the bottom of the 1st inning, the Yankees got going quickly against one of the best-starting pitchers in the MLB, Logan Webb. Captain Aaron Judge got things started with a one-out double off the center field wall, then a couple of batters later, first baseman Paul Goldshmchidt picked up a big two-out RBI single to make it a 1-0 Yankees lead. 

The Giants went down 1-2-3 in the top of the 2nd inning against Rodon thanks to a beautiful catch in right field by Judge for the second out of the inning.  

The Yankees rookie 22-year-old phenom left fielder Jason Dominguez picked up a one-out double in the left-center gap. Then the next batter back, up catcher J.C. Escara, picked up an RBI double to make it a 2-0 Yankees lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning. With two outs DH Ben Rice picked up a huge RBI single the other way to make it a 3-0 game. 

In the top half of the 3rd, Rodon worked around a one-out walk as he picked up two strikeouts to end the frame. 

The Yankees went down in order in the bottom of the 3rd as Goldshmchidt was robbed of a potential homerun on a great play by Giants right fielder Luis Matos.

In the top of the 4th inning, the Giants got on the board with a solo home run from center fielder Jung Hoo Lee to cut the Yankees lead to 3-1, but Rodon did pick up three more strikeouts in the inning to put his total up to six on the game. 

In the bottom half of the 4th, the Yankees' shortstop Anthony Volpe worked a lead-off walk, and then Dominguez followed that up with a walk of his own to put two on with no outs. Those runners would get stranded as Ben Rice struck out, looking to end the inning. 

A really impressive 11-pitch 1-2-3 top of the 5th inning from Rodon and picked up his seventh strikeout of the ballgame in the process. 

In the bottom of the 5th inning, Judge and Goldshmchidt worked walks, but then the rally stopper as of late, Jazz Chisholm Jr., came up and grounded into a fielder choice as he is 2 for his last 31 at-bats.

In the top of the 6th inning, the Giants took the lead on a 3-run home run by Jung Hoo Lee, his second of the game to make it a 4-3 Giants lead. Mark Lieter Jr. came in to replace Rodon on the mound and pick up the final out of the top of the 6th. 

“Lee has been swinging it really well.” Catcher J.C. said, “We had had him down in the count at two strikes, and we were on the same page with the curveball, but we didn't execute the pitch and left it up, and he put a good swing on it.”

Rodons final line: 5.2 innings pitched, three hits allowed, four earned runs, three costly walks, and eight strikeouts on 100 pitches. Rodon threw his slider 36% of the time, fastball 35%, changeup 14%, curveball 8%, and sinker 7% of the time. Rodon had solid stuff today just had three costly walks and hung two breaking balls to Jung Hoo Lee.

“He’s a good hitter, he hit my mistakes.” Rodon said, on facing Lee, “The first at-bat, I got him with a slider in the zone; the second at-bat, he hammered that slider. I missed my execution on that… The third at-bat was just terrible execution on a curveball he crushed.”

In the bottom of the 6th inning, Jason Dominguez, J.C. Escara, and Oswaldo Cabrera went down in order for the Yankees. 

In the top of the 7th inning, Goldshmchidt had a costly error as a ground ball went right under his glove, allowing a run to score and make it a 5-3 Giants lead. Ian Hamilton came in to replace Lieter Jr. on the mound and picked up a strikeout to end the frame. 

In the bottom of the 7th, Judge was hit by a pitch with one out, but that would be all for the Yankees in the inning. 

Hamilton came back out to pitch the top of the 8th and walked two of the three hitters he faced, then Tim Hill came in to replace Hamilton on the mound and picked up the final two outs to end the threat. 

In the bottom of the 8th, Jazz finally snapped a 0 for 24 skid with a solo home run to make it a 5-4 Giants lead. 

“I’ve been barreling a bunch of balls in the last week they just haven't been dropping.” Jazz said, “And that's just what baseball is. You can hit a million balls 100 mph and not get any hits out of it, so I’m happy to just see that the luck is finally turning around.”

Hill remained in the game in the top of the 9th, worked a 1-2-3 frame, and picked up two strikeouts in the process. 

The Yankees went down without much of a fight in the bottom of the 9th, losing this one 5-4 and losing the series to the Giants. 

The Yankees will start a new series tomorrow against the Royals in an ALDS rematch. Seth Lugo, who finished third in AL Cy Young voting last year, will get the ball for the Royals, and Carlos Carrasco will take the mound for the Yankees. The first pitch will be at 7:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Carlos Rodon has to be better. He is getting paid way too much (27 million a year) to choke a 3-run lead in a rubber match of a series. It was nice to see Jazz finally get his first hit in a week. I would like to see him stop swinging for the fences and try to pick up a single for once. There's not much bad to say about the offense today. I liked how they looked, for the most part, and the same with the bullpen. Unfortunately, Rodon cost the Yankees any chance at winning this game or series, and he has to be better.