They’re called the Bronx Bombers and boast the best hitter on the planet, but in this series out in Anaheim the story has been the pitching. Fifth starter Ryan Yarbrough was brilliant last night in a series-opening win, and Carlos Rodón was One On yet again tonight. The evening was so good that the Yankees even dodged a very scary ninth-inning bullet, winning 3-2.
The Angels strike out more than any team but the Rockies, which plays perfectly into what a strikeout machine Rodón has been of late. Today, his slider and curveball gave the Halos fits, with the pitches engineering a 47 and 50 percent (!) whiff rate respectively.
All told, Rodón threw seven shutout innings, striking out 10 Angels. He really only got in trouble in the third inning, giving up a pair of one-out singles before striking out the next two batters. With two outs in the seventh, Jo Adell actually touched Carlos for a double, leading to a mound visit. To his credit, manager Aaron Boone allowed the southpaw the chance to finish the inning he started, and boy did the hurler prove Boone’s gut call right:
You’re not going to throw a shutout every time — although tonight was the third shutout performance of Carlos Rodón’s May. You will eventually give up some runs again. But if Rodón can pitch like this or close to it, and if Luis Gil can return from injury and be effective…I mean those two things do have to actually happen, but with Max Fried that is a terrifying postseason rotation to stare down. Rodón’s season ERA now sits at 2.60, and his 90 strikeouts trail only defending AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal in the Junior Circuit.
If all that wasn’t enough for you tonight, ‘Los even sparkled defensively:
Ben Rice got the scoring started in the fourth, against the league’s fifth-most-popular home run hittee:
The next Yankee run came on a quirky misplay, with a relatively routine deep fly ball from Cody Bellinger that Angels centerfielder Matthew Lugo seemed to have a bead on:
This was initially scored an error, but credit to Belli for running hard and making it to third. That effort would pay off a batter later, with Anthony Volpe at the dish:
Volpe now has 32 RBI, leading all shortstops. We’ve seen enough peaks and valleys from him that I’m still going to be looking for another shoe to drop, but for now, he’s been as big a contributor to the team’s success as anyone — non-Aaron Judge class, naturally.
In the tack-on portion of the game, we got a nice moment. Oswald Peraza has not cashed in on the opportunities the Yankees have given him, to the point that it’s now mainstream news. For at least tonight though, the infielder added a big insurance run in the seventh with a 408-foot bomb.
He added a walk in the ninth so, good game today kid.
The cherry on top is with no Luke Weaver available, Devin Williams got his first save opportunity in a month. He recorded that save.
You can choose to focus on the two runs allowed, including a leadoff home run from Yoan Moncada, giving up two other hits, not managing a strikeout, and needing a 3-0 foul pop from Logan O’Hoppe to escape … but I’m not going to focus on those things. The more I think about Devin Williams, the more unhappy I become, and I’m choosing happiness today. Devin Williams got the save.
This is the seventh straight series victory for the Yankees, and they pick up a game on everyone in the AL East as the sole victors in the division tonight, moving to seven up on second-place Tampa Bay. The good times are rolling and Clarke Schmidt will be tasked with delivering a sweep against old AL East foe Yusei Kikuchi before heading up the freeway for Friday. Tomorrow’s series finale will once again come at 9:38pm Eastern.
