Carlos Rodon Leads New York Yankees In Game 1 In Minnesota

Carlos Rodon started for the Yankees tonight. He has 16 wins and 186 strikeouts, so he is close to a couple of milestones. He hoped to get closer to 200 strikeouts in this game, but he was not able to pick up his 17th victory against the Twins. The Yankees lost this game 7-0 to the Minnesota Twins.

This was surprising because the Twins basically traded away their entire team just before the trade deadline. Rodon has the fifth-lowest slugging percentage against right-handed batters. He pitched well, just not well enough. You want someone who is pitching well as you approach the playoffs. Do you think Rodon is effectively the Yankees’ second ace?

Lineups: New York Yankees Support Rodon

The Minnesota Twins had Byron Buxton leading off, and he was the center fielder. Austin Martin was the first baseman and batted second. Luke Keaschall was the second baseman and batted third. Royce Lewis was the third baseman and batted fourth. Matt Wallner was the right fielder and batted fifth. Carson McCusker was the designated hitter and batted sixth. Trevor Larnach pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning. Brooks Lee was the shortstop and batted seventh. Jhonny Pereda was the catcher and batted eighth. Edouard Julien was the first baseman and batted ninth. 

For the Yankees, Trent Grisham played center fielder and led off. Aaron Judge was the right fielder and batted second.  Cody Bellinger was the left fielder and batted third. Giancarlo Stanton was the designated hitter and batted fourth. Jazz Chisholm Jr. was the second baseman and batted fifth. Paul Goldschmidt was the first baseman and batted sixth. Ryan McMahon was the third baseman and batted seventh. Jose Caballero was the shortstop and batted eighth. Ben Rice pinch-hit for him in the eighth inning. Austin Wells was the catcher and batted ninth.  

News and Notes

Rodon is the Yankees’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Man of the Year Award. Speaking of Roberto Clemente, all of the players in this game wore patches on their jerseys with Roberto Clemente’s number, 21, on them.

Lewis, who once was a big-time prospect for the Minnesota Twins, is batting only .245 with 12 home runs and 45 runs batted in. That must be a disappointment. Carson McCusker, the Minnesota designated hitter, is six feet eight—the same height as Aaron Judge.

Game Reaction

Lee, the Minnesota shortstop, is a poor defender. He is a minus-9 defensive runs saved. Not a lot of credence is put into defensive statistics, but his tally is bad. The Yankees had never seen the Minnesota pitcher, Woods-Richardson, before. They had bad at-bats against him the first time through the batting order. The struggle continued the whole time Woods-Richardson was in the game. He had a career high in strikeouts.

Scoring Summary

In the third inning, Martin grounded out and Pereda scored. The Twins were up 1-0. In the fifth inning, Lee hit a solo home run. The Twins were leading 2-0. Carlos Rodon is troubled by giving up home runs.

In the seventh inning, Lee doubled and Larnach scored. It was 3-0 Twins. Then, Martin doubled, and three runs scored. Lee scored, Julian scored, and Buxton scored. It was 6-0 Twins. Then, Keaschall singled and Martin scored. It was 7-0 Twins. That is how the game ended.

Conclusion

The Yankees needed Rodon to pitch well. The Yankees needed to win this game and sweep the Minnesota Twins. However, Minnesota Woods-Richardson had a career high in strikeouts, and Rodon made some mistakes. Then Luke Weaver came in for the Yankees and recorded 1 out while allowing 5 earned runs.