After studying his teammate’s poker face, Yankee starter Carlos Rodón was absolutely dealing.
The New York Yankees took the field on Monday night for their first ALCS matchup against the Cleveland Guardians. Leading the charge for the Bombers was lefty starter Carlos Rodón who took the mound for the second time this Postseason.
Putting his previous rocky start behind him, Rodón expertly controlled his emotions for a dominant performance that allowed the Yankees to secure a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Carlos Rodón learned from the best
Last week, Rodón made the third Postseason appearance of his career, and the first since signing a six-year $162 million contract to join the Yankees in 2022. The 31-year-old had an impressive second season with the Bombers, posting a 3.96 ERA with 195 K’s over 32 starts. However, regular season numbers are thrown out the window in October.
Rodón took the mound for Game 2 of the ALDS against the Kansas City Royals and came out of the gates hot. Feeding off of the raucous Yankee Stadium crowd, the starter quickly struck out the side in the first inning and celebrated after each batter he sent back to the dugout.
Through the first three innings, Rodón was electric, powerful, and unhittable. Everything changed in the fourth, though, as the starter seemingly ran out of steam. He surrendered a leadoff home run to Royals catcher Salvador Perez and the opposing team never looked back. Before Rodón knew it, his night was over after giving up four earned runs in just 3.1 innings, and the Yankees went on to lose the game 4-2.
After his underwhelming start in Game 2, Rodón admitted that he needed to do a better job of keeping his composure on the mound. He explained that, in order to do that, he studied fellow Yankee starter and the reigning American League Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole.
Rodón watched the stoic righty’s start in Game 4 of the ALDS to analyze his poker face during high-leverage moments:
“Gerrit is a good poker player,” Rodón said per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com. “Me, not so much. I need to be better at poker.”
The Yankees have Rodón the start in Game 1 of the ALCS
As the Yankees shifted their focus towards the ALCS, many were surprised that manager Aaron Boone went with Rodón to start in Game 1. Not only had he struggled in his previous outing, but the Guardians were also one of the best offenses against lefty pitchers during the regular season. Regardless, Rodón took the mound in the Bronx on Monday night hoping to set the tone for the series.
Luckily, he did just that.
The flamethrower threw 20+ pitches in a lengthy, yet scoreless first inning. Perhaps he was just adjusting to the zone of home plate umpire Mike Estabrook for the first time in his career, as he quickly found his groove in the following innings.
Where he was excited, loud, and overconfident in his last start, Rodón entered Monday’s outing cool, calm, and collected. He remained composed through six dominant innings, holding the Cleveland offense to just three hits and one run while striking out nine in the process. Rodón punctuated his masterful outing by besting Guardians star third-baseman Jose Ramirez in a nine-pitch battle to end the sixth.
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Complemented with plenty of run support, Rodón handed the game off to relievers Clay Holmes and Luke Weaver to secure a 5-2 win for the Yankees. Reflecting on his incredible performance in his postgame interview, Rodón expressed the importance of keeping his composure on the mound.
“The goal was to stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally, and I thought I executed that well tonight.”
Rodón set the tone for the series and it’s now up to Cole and the Yankee offense to keep the momentum building in Game 2.
