NEW YORK -- Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodón had command of his pitches on Opening Day last week against the Brewers, but it was a different story in the early innings on Wednesday night, and it proved costly in a 4-3 loss to the D-backs at Yankee Stadium.
It was a cold night in the Bronx: 42 degrees at first pitch, and Rodón had a tough time finding his rhythm early. He acknowledged his fastball velocity was down, but he wasn’t concerned.
Based on what he did the first two innings, it looked like Rodón was in for a short night. Three batters into the game, Rodón was down, 2-0, after Lourdes Gurriel Jr. hit a two-run homer on an 0-2 pitch. An inning later, Arizona added two more runs against Rodón. Eugenio Suárez scored on a sacrifice fly by Geraldo Perdomo, while Gabriel Moreno came home on a single by Ketel Marte to make it a four-run game.
Rodón settled down after the second, pitching four scoreless innings while retiring the last 10 hitters that he faced.
“[Early in the game] maybe it was just a little weather-related, a little cooler and stuff,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “[Rodón] was searching to find the strike zone a little bit there in those first couple of innings, but I thought stuff-wise, once he settled in, he was pretty good.”
Rodón received a scare with one out in the fifth inning. Marte hit a line drive that hit Rodón on the right forearm, but Rodón recovered to throw Marte out at first. Rodón ended up pitching another 1 1/3 innings before leaving the game.
“It was pretty fortunate that it wasn’t his throwing arm and [the ball] got him on the fat [part] of the arm, not on the bone,” Boone said. “It could have been worse. He had a bruise, and it swelled up on him. He was able to get some compression [on the arm] and threw the sleeves on the arm.”
Rodón said the arm was OK, but his mind was on the start of the game. He experienced problems with command, and it took too long to make adjustments.
“I wish it was sooner. I needed to be quicker with it. I wish I had it click earlier and kept that game closer,” Rodón said. “I gave some free passes. I gave them some easy runs. I needed to be a little more crisp with the lines.”
In their first four games, the Yankees scored 41 runs, but D-backs right-hander Zac Gallen limited New York to three hits in 6 2/3 innings. The only time New York had a chance to score off the right-hander was in the second inning. The Yankees had runners on second and third with one out, but Jasson Domínguez and Ben Rice struck out to end the threat. After that, Gallen retired 14 out of the next 15 hitters before allowing a single to Austin Wells.
“It will be a game we will look back on,” Boone said of Gallen. “He was just dialed in. He had both breaking balls going. The changeup was working. He was moving the fastball around. It has that ride -- that cut on it. He had one heck of a night. He was really dealing. He made it tough on us.”
One thing can be said about the 2025 Yankees: They don’t give up easily.
Right-hander Ryan Thompson was on the mound in the ninth inning when Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge reached base on consecutive singles. Thompson left the game in favor of left-hander A.J. Puk, who allowed a three-run homer to Anthony Volpe to make it a one-run game. It was Volpe’s fourth hit of the season, all have been homers.
New York fell short after Wells popped up to Moreno behind the plate, then Domínguez struck out to end the game.
“We weren’t able to put together a rally, but it was a tough one tonight,” Boone said.