Yankees starter Carlos Rodon had yet another strong performance in Thursday’s 1-0 win over the Texas Rangers to cap off the three-game sweep, tossing six scoreless innings with eight strikeouts.
It’s Rodon’s second straight win, lowering his ERA to 1.90 in May over four starts and 2.88 overall on the year across 11 starts. The left-hander hasn’t lost a game since April 13 when he dropped his third straight outing, going 5-0 over his last seven games.
After the win, manager Aaron Boone told reporters that this type of stretch from Rodon was exactly what he warned about earlier in the season, knowing what the lefty is capable of on the mound.
“I tried to tell you this when he gave up the three-run homers and everyone was losing their mind. He’s about to roll off a bunch in a row,” Boone said. “I think it’s been since the start of the season. I think if you go back to Opening Day, you have the two outings that got wrecked by the three-run homer, but even in those it’s been (good).
“I don’t know, how many starts has he made now? Probably 10, 11? I think they’ve all been really, really strong. A pitch here and there in a couple of them and it’s even at another level, but it’s been a lot of really good.”
Rodon has tossed six-plus innings in all but three starts this season, saying it’s the starting rotation’s goal to throw as many innings they can to help the bullpen and get the slugging offense more chances to score.
“Yeah we just got to keep going, just keep going deep into games,” Rodon said. “You know, not taxing the bullpen, just getting through six, seven innings, as many outs as we can. Just getting ahead of hitters and giving our offense a chance to get in the dugout and swing the bats.”
Once Rodon’s day was done, Mark Leiter Jr. came in and tossed a scoreless inning, followed by another dominant outing from Devin Williams. Since losing the closer role on April 27 allowing three runs on May 7 against the San Diego Padres, Williams has an ERA of 0.00 and 10 strikeouts over seven games (6.1 IP), allowing just two hits and one walk. Williams earned his fifth hold of the year with a 1-2-3 eighth inning on Thursday.
“Devin’s the man, he’s obviously one of the best in the game,” closer Luke Weaver said after the win. “There’s adjustment periods… you’re just trying to minimize mistakes. Sometimes they are completely uncontrollable and they stack up and you’re trying to stop that momentum. Sometimes they’re minimal and we can make those mistakes quick. Sometimes we get lucky and sometimes we don’t.
“With all that being said, it’s awesome to have him do his thing. I certainly wasn’t worried about him for one second. He’s found his rhythm, he’s controlling his game, his tempo, and he’s just dominant.”
Weaver picked up the save (No. 7 on the year), getting two flyouts and a strikeout to seal the deal. The 31-year-old, who’s pitching to a career-best 0.40 ERA across 21 games, added that everyone in the bullpen is rooting for each other’s success. The Yankees own the majors’ seventh-best ERA at 3.42 and are top-10 in bullpen ERA at 3.38.
“It’s a collective effort,” Weaver said. “Everybody is rooting hard for each other, we want to make sure that we pick each other up. There’s different days where, if a guy’s down and we got to go one-plus, we got to figure out ways to piece it together. We always want our starter to go nine, we’re just there as backup. When the game dictates situations, we just want to be prepared. We’ll give hopefully big high fives and hugs after the fact and say, ‘Get ’em tomorrow.'”
After going 15-13 in April, the Yanks have gone 12-6 this month and are riding a four-game winning streak heading out West for a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies.
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