(Benny Sieu – Imagn Images)
Carlos Rodon spent most of the previous season pitching with a bone spur in his left elbow. After undergoing surgery in the offseason and a lengthy recovery, the left-hander was eager to step back onto the mound for the Yankees, fully healthy.
That opportunity finally arrived Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee.
Rodon showed flashes of promise but was ultimately undermined by command struggles, allowing three runs on two hits and five walks across 4.1 innings. He walked the leadoff batter in every inning except two.
“That was the bugaboo,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Overall, his stuff looked good — the fastball had more life, he threw a really effective changeup and some solid sliders that generated swing-and-misses. But those three leadoff walks hurt us.”
Rodon managed to escape trouble in the first and second innings, but Milwaukee made him pay in the fourth. After two walks and a hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, the Brewers scored on a sacrifice fly and then took the lead with a two-out, two-run single — their first hit of the day.
“He just lost the zone there,” Boone said. “Getting out of those first two innings after walking the leadoff batter was impressive, but it’s usually not a sustainable approach. A couple more came back to haunt him.”
The skipper pointed to rust as a possible factor in Rodon’s difficulty finding the strike zone, but the pitcher himself offered no clear explanation. He tried to make in-game adjustments but could never find a rhythm.
Rodon will aim to bounce back in his next start, which will open this year’s Subway Series.
“It’s frustrating,” Rodon said. “Obviously I need to be better at attacking the zone and getting ahead in the count quickly. That’s something to work on for next time.”
