MINNEAPOLIS – Honored earlier in the day by the Yankees for his work away from the diamond, Carlos Rodón continued to be strong for his employer Monday night.
New York’s offense did not.
Rodón scattered five hits and allowed two runs across six innings, but in-playoff-contention New York fell 7-0 at Target Field to the Twins, a team playing out the string.
The Yankees (83-67) fell five games behind Toronto (88-62) in the American League East and remained one game ahead of idle Boston (82-68) for the top AL Wild Card seed. The Blue Jays and Red Sox hold head-to-head tiebreakers.
The performance came just hours after Rodón was named New York’s nominee for the 2025 Roberto Clemente Award, which is “bestowed annually to the player who best represents the game of Baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.”
“It’s definitely a big honor because we all know Roberto was quite the ambassador for baseball. An unbelievable player on the field and an even better person off the field, giving his time to help people, children. It’s quite the honor to be nominated for it,” Rodón said.
Last year Rodón and his wife Ashley created the Carlos Rodón Foundation that is dedicated to helping couples facing pregnancy complications and difficulties relating to infertility. The Rodóns dealt with two miscarriages before the birth of their daughter, Willow.
“What they’re doing and calling attention to something that’s not always brought to light with infertility,” said manager Aaron Boone. “The fact that they’ve given a platform to it, a voice to it, support it, has been a great thing. I know they’re doing amazing work and how that foundation has grown over the years. Really proud of him and Ashley and what they stand for away from the field. Between the lines he’s been terrific for us.”
The left-hander is 5-2 with a 2.45 ERA in his past eight starts, allowing no more than two earned runs per game.
Rodón nearly got out of the third inning unscathed after Minnesota had runners on the corners with no outs. He struck out Byron Buxton, but a tailor-made double-play grounder resulted in just one out when first baseman Paul Goldschmidt couldn’t scoop a low, short, hurried throw from second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Boone said a brief indecision by José Caballero proved costly.
“He started like he could take it himself and then he changed, but by that point it turns a little too late to turn the double play with [Austin] Martin getting down the line well. You got to go right there and take it yourself or flip it. I think he should have flipped it right away, and we get the double play.”
Brooks Lee hit a solo home run off Rodón in the fifth, which was more than enough for Minnesota.
New York struck out 14 times. The Yankees have the third most strikeouts in the Majors and have been in double digits in five of the past seven games, including a season-high-tying 16 in Sunday’s 6-4 loss in Boston.
“It’s definitely frustrating,” said third baseman Ryan McMahon. “I think a lot of guys think that we should have been a lot better tonight. But you got to tip your cap sometimes.”
Four Yankees reached second base. None got to third.
McMahon stole second in the second inning before Caballero grounded out. Making his sixth straight start at shortstop, Caballero doubled with one out in the fifth and was promptly picked off. Aaron Judge, who walked three times, reached second with one out in the sixth, but Cody Bellinger and Giancarlo Stanton struck out. Trent Grisham was stranded in the eighth when Martin, the Minnesota left fielder, reached into the stands to catch a Cody Bellinger foul ball.
Reliever Luke Weaver allowed a season-high four runs in one-third of an inning in the seventh.
“That was trash,” Weaver said of an outing in which he felt mechanically off but fine physically. “Felt like I was fighting myself the whole time, mentally just trying to overcome it with a good mindset and stay within myself. Those two things just weren’t coming together. Felt like I tried to do too much and got on the wrong side of the results. …
“Preparation was strong per usual in my routine, but it didn’t match the intensity out there. Just became tough to predict what I needed to do when I needed to do it.”