Yankees 9, Twins 5: Rodón rampant, Captain keeps crushing

Each day brings a new marvel from Aaron Judge. Today, it was a bases-clearing triple in the fifth — his first in five years — as the captain finished the day with five RBIs. Carlos Rodón was perfect through 5.1 innings before a Carlos Santana solo shot broke up the perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout bids in one fell swoop, but it was one of the few blemishes on one of Rodón’s best starts in pinstripes, which included a season-high nine strikeouts. All told, the Yankees won their seventh in a row with a 9-5 victory over the Twins.

Looking back at Chris Paddack’s last start against the Yankees in May, Minnesota felt he was tipping his pitches, leading to the five runs on 12 hits. Despite the Twins believing he fixed the issue, the Yankees picked up right where they left off facing Paddack. Anthony Volpe extended his on-base streak to 31 games with an opposite field single to lead off the first. Juan Soto then dropped a broken bat blooper over Carlos Correa’s glove to put runners on the corners with no outs for Aaron Judge. The captain rolled a soft grounder to the right side, plating Volpe for his 50th RBI on the season. It wouldn’t be his last.

Alex Verdugo was rung up on strikes for the second out, but that just allowed us to enjoy the disciplined two-out approach of the three following batters. Giancarlo Stanton lasered a 97-mph heater to the opposite field for a 115.5-mph single, driving in Soto for the second run.

Anthony Rizzo then found himself in a quick 0-2 hole, but stayed back on a fastball and inside-outed it to left to put runners on second and third for Gleyber Torres. The second baseman has been steadily getting his season on track, with a 143 wRC+ across his last 21 games, and he delivered a huge hit, flipping a double down the right field line that just bounced off Manuel Margot’s glove on the diving attempt and into the stands to bring Stanton and Rizzo home and double the Yankees’ lead, 4-0.

Throughout the season, Rodón has consistently praised the high level of defense behind him and he benefitted from a pair of sparkling plays in the outfield early on. Byron Buxton hit a fly ball to the deepest part of left-center in the second that looked destined for extra bases, but Verdugo ran a long way to make a spectacular snow cone catch before slamming into the wall. Volpe made a diving stop on a sharp Santana grounder in the third and an accurate throw to first. Then in the fourth, Margot sliced a ball to right that looked like it would make the stands before Soto leapt at the side wall and snatched it back into play for the out.

He didn’t need many of these web gems with the way he was pitching. It was the best command I can remember seeing from the southpaw this season, Rodón able to pinpoint elevated heaters to both top corners of the zone while burying sliders back-foot and fading changeups away from righties. You could tell immediately from his pair of strikeouts in the first that he brought his A-game to the park.

Staked a four-run lead after the first, Rodón could be aggressive attacking the zone, but he seemed to be on an extra mission to punch out every batter he faced. He tallied another pair of strikeouts in each of the second and third innings, needing just 44 pitches to make it through a full turn of the Twins’ lineup untouched. A 12-pitch fourth kept his pitch count in good shape, and strikeouts of Miranda and Buxton in the fifth gave Rodón eight on his outing. The command began to falter in the the fifth, though the Santana home run came on a well-executed four-seamer above the zone. His fastballs started to find more and more of the zone, Farmer and Margot following Santana’s home run with a single and double to put runners on second and third with one out. Correa lifted a sac fly to put a second and final run on Rodón’s line.

Rodón tallied 18 total swings and misses, his second-highest total of the season. Eight came against the four-seamer, three on the slider, four on the changeup, and three on the curveball as Rodón displayed by far the best control of his entire arsenal in a start. He finished his outing allowing two runs on three hits with no walks and nine strikeouts. Check out a map of all 18 of his whiffs, as well as his nine punch outs.

Paddack found the adjustment he needed to make and found his groove after the first, retiring the next nine batters he faced including six by strikeout. That was enough time for the Yankees to make their own adjustments to the tweaks Paddack made, and they immediately picked up where they left off in the first. DJ LeMahieu drew a bases-loaded walk to open the fifth and moved up a base on Volpe’s second single of the evening. Soto then drew a walk on four straight out of the zone to load the bases with no outs for Judge and knock Paddack from the contest.

Old foe from his days with the Rays Diego Castillo came on in relief, but was no match for Judge, who pulled a bullet down the left field line and into the corner, clearing the bases with his first triple this decade, followed by a Verdugo sac fly that required some heads-up, hard-nosed base running from Judge to make it 8-0 Yankees.

New York scored their final run in the sixth, Castillo walking Austin Wells, LeMahieu, and Soto to again load the bases for Judge. Rocco Baldelli remembered what happened the last time that situation popped up and instead called on Josh Staumont to put out the fire, but the former Royal walked Judge to plate the Yankees’ ninth run and give the captain five RBIs on the night. Volpe would triple in the eighth, but the Bombers didn’t quite have double-digits in them on this particular evening.

One of the benefits of playing with a comfortable lead is it allowed the Yankees to save their higher leverage relievers. They handed the ball from Rodón to Dennis Santana to start the seventh, and the righty reliever reaffirmed the need to keep him in lower leverage spots. A game after giving up two runs in the sixth inning to the Giants, he managed to bleed away a portion of the generous lead with which he had been entrusted. He served up a cement mixer slider to the first batter he faced, Royce Lewis crushing it to left for his second solo shot of the series. He then ceded a triple to the next batter Juan Miranda, who crossed home on a Buxton grounder. The next inning, Kyle Farmer led off with a double followed by a pair of grounders to bring him home and make it 9-5 Yankees.

Santana redeemed himself by pitching a scoreless eighth and Michael Tonkin continued to improve since joining the team, striking out a pair in the ninth to seal the victory, 9-5. Thanks to old friend Isiah Kiner-Falefa walking off the Orioles, the Yankees now have a 3.5-game lead over Baltimore in the AL East. They’re also tied with the Phillies for the best record in baseball at 44-19 (.698).

The Yankees go for a second sweep of the Twins tomorrow with Marcus Stroman set to face Pablo López. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm ET with the broadcast returning to YES.

Box Score