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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
NEW YORK — On Thursday, while Gerrit Cole mowed down the Kansas City Royals in the New York Yankees‘ series-clinching Game 4 win in the American League Division Series, Carlos Rodón took mental notes from the dugout.
Not on anything Cole did to Royals hitters. Not on his approach or his pitch selection or his mechanics. But on Cole’s demeanor around the mound. His tranquility as he navigated the only jam he encountered. The lack of screams and fist pumps. So cool, so calm.
“It’s just like a robot walking to the dugout,” Rodón noted.
Rodón’s emotions sabotaged his first start of this postseason, in Game 2 of the ALDS against the Royals. He saw in Cole the model to emulate. On Monday, in the most important start of his professional career, Rodón nailed the imitation, tossing six brilliant innings in the Yankees’ 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series.
Rodón held the Guardians to one run on three hits without a walk. He tallied nine strikeouts, seven on a wipeout slider he played off his fastball to near perfection. He threw 93 pitches and induced 25 swing-and-misses — the most by a Yankees pitcher in a playoff game in the pitch-tracking era (since 2008), according to ESPN Research. He was composed and he was dominant as the Yankees moved within three wins of their first World Series appearance since 2009.
“Gosh, he was good,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “We talked about would he take the experience of the first time out? And I felt like he totally applied all of that. I thought he was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions.”
Clay Holmes, Tim Hill and Luke Weaver followed Rodón out of the bullpen to record the final nine outs. The Guardians added a run in the eighth inning against Hill and threatened for more before Weaver entered with one out and runners on first and second.
The right-hander wiggled out of the jam by striking out pinch hitter Will Brennan and getting superstar third baseman Jose Ramirez to ground out. Weaver, a failed-starter-turned-shutdown-closer, shut the door with three strikeouts in the ninth inning, becoming the first Yankees pitcher with multiple five-out saves since Aroldis Chapman in 2017.
The Guardians’ counter to Rodón was Alex Cobb, a veteran right-hander making just his fifth start in 2024. He secured just eight outs before departing with a tight left hip, back spasms and a mess for the bullpen to clean up.
Cobb’s unraveling began with Juan Soto‘s leadoff blast in the third inning. He then walked the bases loaded with two outs, prompting Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt to summon left-hander Joey Cantillo to face lefty hitter Anthony Rizzo, who was playing in his first game since fracturing two fingers in his right hand in the penultimate game of the regular season 16 days earlier. The move did not stem the tide.
Cantillo allowed two runs to score on two wild pitches around a walk to Rizzo. He then walked Gleyber Torres to start the bottom of the fifth inning before uncorking two more wild pitches, walking Soto, and exiting without recording an out. Pedro Avila was called on to face Aaron Judge with runners on the corners and surrendered a sacrifice fly before escaping the inning.
“I didn’t execute pitches and the control obviously was not there and just got to be better next time,” Cantillo said. “That performance was obviously the difference in the game. So that’s on me.”
Six Guardians pitchers combined for seven walks and five wild pitches, tying the MLB postseason record, according to ESPN Research.
“Gosh, he was good. We talked about would he take the experience of the first time out? And I felt like he totally applied all of that. I thought he was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone on Carlos Rodón
“These guys work the count,” Vogt said. “They don’t chase a whole lot. I think if I take something away from tonight, we just need to attack the zone better, and we didn’t tonight. They made us work.”
Rodón was more amped-up when he took the mound in his first start of the postseason, a 4-2 loss to the Royals. He came out firing in the first, filling up the strike zone with 10 of his 12 pitches and touching 98 mph. He stuck out his tongue. He strutted.
Monday was different. Guardians All-Star leadoff batter Steven Kwan, one of the sport’s premier contact hitters, flied out on the ninth pitch of his at-bat to begin the game. Rodón threw 22 pitches in the first inning and 39 through two. Then he shifted gears.
Rodón retired 11 straight batters from the second inning until Brayan Rocchio tagged a fastball for a solo home run to lead off the sixth. Seven of the outs came via the strikeout. All were swinging.
“I thought he held his stuff really well,” Boone said. “You just watched him out there with intensity, but a lot of poise, and that’s what stood out.”
Rodón ended his night by winning a nine-pitch battle against Ramírez, who roped a line drive that Judge chased down at the warning track in center field. He walked off the mound for the final time to cheers. Cool and calm, almost like a robot.
“The goal was to just stay in control, stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodón said. “I thought I executed that well tonight.”