The New York Yankees are on a roll, as after sweeping the Detroit Tigers they manhandled the Houston Astros in a 10-3 win in the series opener. With Carlos Rodon toeing the slab with a chance to make it five straight and avenge a brutal start in Baltimore, the Yankees would hope to get their 25th win of the season. Their offense has been red-hot in recent games, after dropping the ball in Baltimore, and they would once again flash their dominance with the bats as they crushed the Astros’ pitching staff to the tune of nine runs.
Getting a great start from Carlos Rodon as well, the Yankees would pick up a sweat-free 9-4 win over the Astros, their sixth-straight win against Houston this season, as they’ve now taken another series win at home.
Carlos Rodon Shoves, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge Shine in Yankees Win
This game would start in a similar fashion to yesterday’s, as Kyle Tucker would deliver another first-inning home run to put the Astros up 1-0. This lead, just like yesterday’s wouldn’t even last the inning as Juan Soto immediately responded with a two-run blast. The Yankees ambushed rookie starter Spencer Arrighetti, who looked out of sorts and overmatched on the mound, and this would give New York a lead they wouldn’t relinquish all game.
After Carlos Rodon settled down with a scoreless second inning, Juan Soto would tally his third RBI of the game by beating out an infield single, although a baserunning miscalculation by Anthony Volpe caused him to run to third while Gleyber Torres still occupied the bag. Aaron Judge would come up in the bottom of the third and launch a solo home run to make it 4-1, and Giancarlo Stanton would demolish a baseball at 119.9 MPH, the hardest-hit ball of the 2024 season thus far.
Both teams would exchange zeroes until the sixth inning, where an RBI groundout for Soto and an Aaron Judge two-RBI double made this a blowout, as the Yankees held an 8-1 lead. After cruising through six innings, Carlos Rodon would allow back-to-back extra-base hits to Mauricio Dubon and Jake Meyers, but Caleb Ferguson proceeded to get the following two outs in order, leaving Rodon’s final line at 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 0 BB, and 7 SO.
His ERA on the season sits at 3.38, and the Yankees are hoping he can build off of this start and continue to fire in strong innings for the Bronx Bombers. Jeremy Pena would hit a solo blast off of Victor Gonzalez in the eighth to make it 8-3, but Juan Soto would deliver his fifth RBI of the day, making it a 9-3 game and putting the Astros away for good. They’d get an RBI single from Jose Altuve in the ninth, but it was for naught as the game would end in a 9-4 Yankees win.
They’ll have a chance to pick up the sweep tomorrow night, with an abnormal 5:05 PM start at Yankee Stadium, with Ronel Blanco going up against Marcus Stroman.