Coming off of a crazy win on Opening Day that included a game-saving throw from Juan Soto, the Yankees would look to make it two-in-a-row against the Astros. In a matchup between two different pitchers looking to rebound from poor seasons in 2023, Cristian Javier would take the bump against Carlos Rodon in Minute Maid Park. Yesterday we saw a persistent offense finally get runs across in the middle innings after working nine walks against Astro pitching, but tonight would pose a tougher challenge early on
Despite six scoreless innings from Cristian Javier, the Yankees were able to batter a depleted Astros bullpen, scoring seven runs in the final three innings to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Oswaldo Cabrera Leads the Way In Yankees’ Second-Straight Win
This start had all the makings of one that would get out of hand for Carlos Rodon, who allowed eight baserunners in just four and a third innings of work. It wasn’t pretty for the left-hander, and you wouldn’t necessarily call it an encouraging start given the lack of whiffs and the poor command.
He looked just like the pitcher he did last season in terms of his consistency, but the ability to ramp it up in big-time situations changed the outcome in the run-scoring department. It takes some dumb luck to get out of that many jams, but sometimes being lucky is better than being good.
It wasn’t a matter of not having the velocity, we saw some 97-98 MPH heaters that crackled through the zone, but velocity wasn’t much of an issue for Rodon last season. His fastball sat at 95.3 MPH, just 0.2 MPH slower than it was in 2022, so it doesn’t feel like there was a massive breakthrough under the hood either.
The addition of a cutter certainly helps with inducing the soft contact necessary to get out of these jams, but the fastball is what got him out of a jam against Yordan Alvarez in a fourth inning that came with plenty of panic.
At the end of the day, Rodon was able to hold things together when he needed to, and it proved to be exactly what the Yankees needed. Cristian Javier shut the Yankees down across the first six innings, allowing just four hits and a walk while striking out six Yankees in the process. His new changeup gave the Yankees fits, but when Joe Espada had to turn to his bullpen, the Bronx Bombers were ready to cause some mayhem.
Tayler Scott would come in, and after walking both Austin Wells and Anthony Volpe, he’d surrender an RBI single to Oswaldo Cabrera, the hero of tonight’s contest. With Juan Soto working a walk against Rafael Montero, the Yankees made it 2-1, giving them a lead they’d never relinquish, but the real damage came in the eighth inning.
It was a brutal inning for Houston, who made two errors in the inning, resulting in Anthony Rizzo and Alex Verdugo scoring in two consecutive plays, but up three runs and looking for more, Oswaldo Cabrera would pick up his fourth hit of the game, scoring both Wells and Volpe, putting the Astros in the rear mirror at 6-1.
Giancarlo Stanton would launch his first home run of the season to make it 7-1, putting a finishing touch on the Yankees’ offensive explosion in the top of the ninth inning. The bullpen would be tasked with picking up the slack for a struggling Rodon, as Nick Burdi would relieve him in the fifth and get two outs to end the frame.
Luke Weaver picked up 1.1 innings of flawless work, and Victor Gonzalez and Caleb Ferguson shut it down in the seventh and eighth frames to preserve the lead. Clayton Beeter would make his rookie debut to close it out in the ninth inning, and your New York Yankees are now 2-0.
In terms of injury news, Juan Soto looked shaken up earlier in the game, but it seems he’s fine as he played the rest of the contest, but that will be something to monitor tomorrow. For more definitive news, Gleyber Torres exited the game with an apparent hand injury after being hit by a pitch, as that raises some concerns given the amount of bones in the hand.
Other key contributors on offense included Juan Soto and his three-hit performance, alongside the hit and walk that Anthony Volpe added to the picture as well. It’s a strong team win for the Yankees, who hope to pick up a series win and make it three-in-a-row tomorrow night with Marcus Stroman on the bump.