Carlos Rodon Big As New York Yankees Win 5th Game In a Row

Carlos Rodon finally pitched well as the New York Yankees won their fifth game in a row, 1-0. The Yankees need Rodon to pitch well with the injury to ace Gerrit Cole. Rodon makes $28 million a year and needs to pitch to his salary.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. was ejected from yesterday’s game and tweeted from the dugout, using expletives to express his anger. It was likely that both Orlando Cabrera, who had three hits yesterday, and Oswald Peraza would start. However, it was not to be as Chisholm Jr. was in the starting lineup (he is appealing a one-game suspension). Do you think players who get ejected should sit on the bench in the next game?

Lineups: Yankees Win Game 2 In Tampa

The Rays had Yandy Diaz batting first and acting as the designated hitter. Junior Caminero played third base and batted second. Curtis Mead batted third and was the second baseman. Brandon Lowe pinch-hit for him in the ninth inning. Christopher Morel was the left fielder and batted fourth. Danny Jansen was the was the catcher and batted fifth. Cameron Misner pinch-hit for him in the ninth. Jonathan Aranda was the first baseman and batted sixth. He is hitting .377. José Caballero was the right fielder and batted seventh. Jake Mangum was the center fielder and batted eighth. Taylor Walls was the shortstop and batted ninth.

For the Yankees, Ben Rice led off and was the designated hitter. Aaron Judge was the right fielder batting second. Cody Bellinger batted third and was the left fielder. Paul Goldschmidt was the first baseman and batted fourth. Chisholm Jr. batted fifth and played second base. JC Escarra batted sixth and was the catcher. Anthony Volpe was the shortstop, batting seventh. Trent Grisham batted eighth and was the center fielder. Cabrera was the third baseman and batted ninth. 

Scoring Summary: Carlos Rodon Sharp

In the second inning, Grisham hit a single, and the Yankees took a 1-0 lead. That was all the scoring from tonight’s game.

Game Notes

Yankee prospect Spencer Jones hit two home runs among 3 hits for the Yankees’ AA affiliate at Somerset. The Patriots lost to the Altoona Curve 6-4. Rice had a career-high 4 hits yesterday for the Yankees. Cabrera hit his first home run of the season yesterday among his three hits.

Many Yankees said it was “a little weird” to play a regular-season game as a visitor at their Spring Training facility. Several Yankee players and coaches have apartments in the Tampa area. Rodon started this game against Drew Rasmussen. Rodon had a much higher earned run average, and that gave the Yankees fans some pause.

Austin Wells was not in the starting lineup as the Yankees’ catcher because he had food poisoning. Rodon is fourth in the American League in strikeout percentage. On this date in 1929, the Yankees first wore numbers on the back of their jerseys. They were second to the Cleveland Indians(they were the Indians then). Numbers were assigned based on the position in the batting order.

Rodon threw six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts. He finally put it together and made a good start. In two games, the Yankees have thrown out two Rays at third base. Last night it was Judge, tonight it was Volpe. Both made fantastic throws. Both were the first out of the inning. Baseball 101 is never make the first, or third out, at third base.

Conclusion

The American League East is tightly packed, and divisional victories are important. This was an important game for the Yankees to win. It was also important for Rodon to pitch well in this game. The Yankees needed length from Rodon to preserve a bullpen that had to get 22 outs yesterday. It is the mark of a good team that they can win 20-9 and 1-0. The Yankees are now 13-7.