Yankees dominate the Twins 9-1 behind Rodon’s gem and Stanton’s big night

New York—The Yankees should petition to play the Twins more often, as they took down the Twins 9-1 to win the series and are now 125-44 against them since 2002.  Carlos Rodon got the starting nod for the Yankees and faced off against Travis Adams.

Rodon served up a leadoff single, then went from ahead 1-2 to walking a batter to quickly put two runners on with nobody out. The next batter, Rodon, plunked Ryan Jeffers in a 2-2 count to load the bases with nobody out. Rodon picked up a strikeout, then gave up a run on a fielder's choice off the bat of Royce Lewis to give the Twins a 1-0 lead. Rodon then picked up another strikeout to limit the damage and strand runners at the corners, and cap off a 31-pitch top of the first inning. 

“That wasn't in my head in the moment,” Rodon said when asked if there was any concern he wasn't going to make it past the first inning. “I was trying to get three outs after a hit, a walk, and a hit by pitch. That was it, trying to get three outs.”

In the bottom of the first inning, Aaron Judge quickly responded, launching his 38th home run of the season and first since returning from the IL to tie the game up at 1-1. A couple of batters later, Giancorlo Stanton laced a two-out double into the left-center gap 114.7 mph off the bat, but Ben Rice lined out to deep right field to strand Stanton at second base. 

Rodon had a nice bounce-back inning in the top of the second as he retired the Twins in order on just 11 pitches and recorded his third strikeout of the ballgame. 

In the bottom of the second inning, Jazz Chisholm Jr. worked a leadoff walk. Jazz then stole second base, and Ryan McMahon worked a walk of his own to put runners on first and second with one out. The next batter, Anthony Volpe, crushed a three-run home run into the Yankees' bullpen, his 18th home run of the year, to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead.

Rodon worked an easy 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning on just 11 pitches and picked up his fourth strikeout, as he has now retired 10 straight hitters since the first inning. 

Judge worked a two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth inning, then immediately stole second base. However, Cody Bellinger flew out to center field to strand Judge at second base. 

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Big-G stayed red hot, launching his 12th home run of the year, 447 feet away to left center, making it a 5-1 game. 

"I couldn't get 450, though. What the heck," Stanton said jokingly. "That's good. You know, put a good swing on the ball in the middle of the plate. Things like that will happen, and good thing it helped for a win." 

Rodon picked up the first two outs of the bottom of the sixth, then walked a batter to break up a streak of 17 straight hitters retired. Luke Keaschall, the AL Player of the Week last week, grounded out to end the frame. 

Stanton legged out an infield single with two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning to put him a triple away from the cycle. Rice followed that up with a walk, but Jazz grounded out to strand two runners on base. 

Rodon retired the Twins in order in the top half of the seventh inning to finish off a dominant start of seven innings of one-run baseball.

In the bottom of the seventh, Paul Goldschmidt just missed a home run to right, but did trot into second base with a double. The next batter, McMahon, lined a single to left field to put runners at the corners with nobody out. A couple of batters later, Judge was intentionally walked with two outs to load the bases, the next batter, Cody Bellinger, worked a bases-loaded walk to bring across a run and make it a 6-1 game. Stanton lined a two-run single off the wall in right field for his fourth hit of the night to make it an 8-1 game.

Tim Hill replaced Rodon in the top of the eighth inning and worked an easy 1-2-3 inning on nine pitches with a strikeout. 

Carlos Rodon's final line: Seven innings pitched, one hit allowed, one earned run, two walks, nine swings and misses, and five strikeouts on 96 pitches. Rodon threw his fastball 45% of the time, the slider 29%, the changeup 14%, the sinker 8%, and the curveball 4% of the time. Rodon was excellent tonight; it looked like it was going to be a quick outing for him after throwing 31 pitches in the first inning. However, he only allowed one base runner after the first inning and was extremely efficient. 

Jazz led off the bottom of the eighth inning with a triple just outside the reach of Twins center fielder Austin Martin. The next batter, J.C. Escara, who took over for defense, picked up an RBI groundout in his first at-bat since being recalled from AAA to make it a 9-1 game. 

Yerry De los Santos was called upon to pitch the top of the ninth inning and retired the Twins in order to end this one 9-1. 

The Yankees will look to complete the sweep tomorrow with the rookie Cam Schlittler on the mound, facing off against one of the best pitchers in the American League, Joe Ryan. The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET on Prime Video.

My thoughts on the game: The Yankees ran out the same lineup in back-to-back games for the first time in months, it feels like. Stanton has been awesome since returning from the IL, now hitting .300 with a .962 OPS, and he continued that tonight, with his first four-hit game in almost two years, since August 24, 2023. Staton also played right field back-to-back games for the first time in over two years, since August 2 and 3 back in 2023, and has looked solid out there in the field. Jazz also got on base four times tonight with two hits and two walks, as well as two stolen bases. Hopefully, he's starting to heat up again. McMahon also got on base three times tonight and scored a couple of runs. And Judge crushed his first home run since returning from the IL last Tuesday. Rodon was awesome, his best start so far in the second half, and did a great job settling in after a grind of a first inning. Then Hill and De Los Santos shut things down to cap off this blowout victory. The Yankees will go for the sweep tomorrow, but will have the work cut out for them against Joe Ryan and the Twins. 

"He's a leader. This guy's been one of the best in the game for a long time... It just speaks volumes to his leadership and what he means to this team," Judge said on Stanton's willingness to play the outfield.