Carlos Rodon digs a hole, Yankees bullpen caves in vs. Astros

The Yankees’ game against the Astros on Sunday is the failure of their pitching department. Starting pitcher Carlos Rodon created a five-run hole in his first two innings and the Yankees bullpen just caved in. The Astros beat the Yankees 9-7.

Before suffering a hamstring injury that forced him to leave the game early, Carlos Rodon took a lot of damage from the opposing team’s hits. The Yankees manager, Aaron Boone, had to rely heavily on his bullpen, which didn’t perform well. This led to a 9-7 loss in a series against the Astros that ended in a tie. The game took place in front of a full crowd of 46,345 people in The Bronx with the expectations of a series win after Nestor Cortes’ nasty day out bringing a win on Saturday.

The Yankees, with a record of 58 wins and 54 losses, haven’t managed to win any of their last four series. They are now behind by 4 ½ games in the race for an American League wild-card spot. They are about to go play against the White Sox. Just a day after Nestor Cortes ensured an excellent win, Rodon’s performance took a step backward, and maybe even a big leap in the wrong direction.

Carlos Rodon left the Yankees in a big trouble

The left-handed player gave up five runs in about two and two-thirds of an inning. As he completed his 58th pitching, he felt a pull in his hamstring. At first, he thought it might be a cramp. The manager, Boone, and a trainer came to the mound to talk to him. Rodon stretched out his left leg and tried a few practice pitches, but unfortunately, he couldn’t keep playing.

Rodon left the pitching area with some people in the crowd booing. He mentioned later that his hamstring was starting to feel better and was returning to its normal state. However, he will find out more about what’s going on through an MRI on Monday.

After his sixth start, during which his ERA rose to 7.33, Rodon shared his frustration about his performance. He explained that he wasn’t happy with the way he played, especially in a game he believed was crucial to win. He noted that he gave up five runs again, which he acknowledged was not a favorable outcome for the Yankees.

It’s easy to see why the 30-year-old is feeling frustrated. The Yankees starter signed a big contract worth $162 million for six years. On top of that, he had to sit out the first three months of the season because of problems with his left forearm and his back. He came back to play in early July, but unfortunately, he hasn’t been performing well since then.

The Yankees’ rotation is facing challenges. Domingo German, who left the team to get help for alcohol problems, is no longer with them. Additionally, Luis Severino, whose ERA is quite high at 7.74, might not be part of the team anymore. This leaves the Yankees with a very limited number of starting pitchers.

Yankees bullpen caved in

Rodon left the game when the Yankees were behind by four runs. However, the Yankees managed to get out of this difficult situation. They had a series of good turns at bat, even though they didn’t make strong contact with the ball. This caused the Astros to throw 51 pitches during a big fourth inning where the Yankees scored four runs.

When the fourth inning started, the Yankees were losing 5-1. But then, they used a single with the bases loaded from Harrison Bader, a pitch hitting Anthony Volpe, a walk by Jake Bauers, and another walk by Aaron Judge to tie the game.

Boone mentioned that the rotation had been affected, referring to a situation where the rotation of pitchers only managed to pitch for 6 ²/₃ innings on Saturday and Sunday. This ultimately resulted in the Yankees bullpen being put under pressure.

However, after Cortes, who was brought in quickly after German left, pitched for four innings on Saturday, the Yankees had to depend a lot on their bullpen, which had already been used a lot. Jhony Brito managed to get five outs, but then Boone had to bring in Wandy Peralta. Peralta’s performance became weaker as he continued to pitch. In Peralta’s second inning of work, he gave up a three-run homer to Jake Meyers, who also hit a homer off Rodon earlier in the game. Meyers ended up with a career-best six runs batted in.

After that, Martin Maldonado hit a solo home run, and unfortunately, the Yankees couldn’t make a comeback for the second time.

Boone mentioned that he didn’t have many options left in the Yankees bullpen. He didn’t want to use Ian Hamilton, who had thrown 34 pitches on Saturday, or Michael King, who had already pitched two out of the last three days. He would have preferred not to use Tommy Kahnle and Clay Holmes either, as they had pitched in three out of the last four games.

The Yankees tried to score but often couldn’t find the right moment to get a big hit. Starting in the fourth inning and all the way to the ninth inning, they left runners on base in every inning. They wasted 12 walks in one game, which was their highest this season. They couldn’t take advantage of these opportunities and ended up leaving 15 runners on base without scoring.

In the ninth inning, the Yankees had two players on base when Giancarlo Stanton stepped up to bat. His attempt to hit a game-winning home run was unsuccessful, as the ball was caught in deep center field. Boone commented that they were trying to defend a lead of seven runs. He also mentioned that this was only the fourth loss in 24 games where they scored at least seven runs. He added that they were very close to potentially scoring in the double digits.

Due to the difficult situation Rodon had created, the Yankees needed more runs. He permitted two players to walk and gave up three hits, two of which resulted in home runs. This contributed to another disappointing performance from him. He has given up eight home runs in 27 innings, which includes a three-run home run by Meyers in the second inning and a two-run home run by Yordan Alvarez in the third inning.

According to Rodon, he was signed by the Yankees with the intention of defeating the Astros in October, but this goal couldn’t be realized in August.

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