Carlos Rodon dominated the Angels for seven innings and the Yankees launched two home runs as they held on to win 3-2 on Tuesday night in Anaheim.
The Yanks have now won four straight games and their seventh consecutive series.
Here are the takeaways…
-There was a pitcher’s duel going on in Anaheim with Rodon and Tyler Anderson trading zeroes until the fourth inning when Ben Rice took the LA southpaw deep for his 11th bomb of the season. Rice saw a 77 mph changeup that went over the middle of the plate, and launched it 423 feet over the right-center field wall.
The Yankees would push across another run in the sixth after an error by center fielder Matthew Lugo allowed Cody Bellinger to reach third with one out. Anthony Volpe cashed in with a single after jumping on a first-pitch changeup up in the zone.
-Rodon entered Tuesday’s game allowing just one run over his last 11 innings pitched and continued that dominant stretch against the Angels. At one point, Rodon retired 11 straight Angels. He gave up a two-out double to Jo Adell in the seventh, and manager Aaron Boone came out to give his starter a blow and left him in to try and get the final out of the inning. Rodon paid off his manager’s faith with his 10th strikeout of the game to keep the Angels off the board.
The Yankees’ lefty did it all, he got through seven innings despite a couple of innings where he threw at least 20 pitches. Rodon’s final line saw him throw 105 pitches (69 strikes) without allowing a run and scattering five hits and no walks. He tied a season-high with 10 punchouts and lowered his ERA to 2.60.
Rodon even helped his own cause with a tremendous Jeter-esque jump throw to first base to complete the play.
-The Yankees would tack on against the Angels’ defense in the seventh courtesy of an Oswald Peraza homer, his third of the season. The infielder’s blast was off his bat at 111.8 mph, the hardest hit ball of the night and went 408 feet to dead center.
Aaron Judge picked up his 80th hit of the season with his first-inning single, raising his season average, briefly, to .401, but ultimately finished 1-for-4 with two strikeouts, having dropped his batting average to .395.
–Jonathan Loaisiga pitched a perfect eighth inning, and with Luke Weaver unavailable due to pitching two days in a row, Devin Williams was asked to close out the game, and he made it very interesting. He allowed a leadoff homer to Yoan Moncada, and after Taylor Ward‘s single, Travis d’Arnaud flew out to the center field warning track. Luis Rengifo singled to put runners on the corners and pitching coach Matt Blake came out to talk to Williams.
Adell grounded into a force out, but drove in the Angels’ second run. Young catcher Logan O’Hoppe came on to pinch-hit and got the green light to swing on a 3-0 count and popped out to Peraza in foul territory to pick up his fifth save of the season, his first in a month.
Game MVP: Carlos Rodon
Rodón has a 1.27 ERA over his last eight starts and his 90 strikeouts are second in the AL behind only Tarik Skubal.
Highlights
Aaron Judge gets his 80th hit on the year and is batting .401 🔥
(via @MLB) pic.twitter.com/yfOL9FPCcq
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 28, 2025
Ben Rice opens the scoring with a homer! pic.twitter.com/zHa6U5ZyCH
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) May 28, 2025
What’s next
The Yankees and Angels finish their three-game series on Wednesday night. First pitch is set for 9:38 p.m.
Clarke Schmidt (1-2, 4.58 ERA) is on the mound and will be opposed by Yusei Kikuchi (1-4, 317 ERA).
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