Yankees’ Carlos Rodón continues to struggle as team falls into deeper funk

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman made an emergency flight to Tampa on Tuesday morning to be with the team as it continued to stumble.

So he was at Tropicana Field when starting pitcher Carlos Rodón suffered yet another implosion, blowing up once again in the first inning and declaring himself one of the Yankees’ biggest problems on a list that’s growing by the day.

Cashman likely wanted to avert his eyes as Rodón coughed up four first-inning runs in a 5-3 defeat to the Tampa Bay Rays that shoved the Yankees into an even deeper funk. They have lost 17 of their last 23 games and only remain at three games back in second place of the American League East because the first-place Baltimore Orioles fell to the Chicago Cubs.

“I need to be better,” Rodón said.

He wasn’t kidding.

Carlos Rodón: Just not really giving my team a chance to win, giving up runs early. Just have to put up a zero in the first. Just try to stretch something together. pic.twitter.com/F5TT15O4QK

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 10, 2024

Rodón picked up his fourth straight loss as he put the Yankees into a three-run hole before getting his first out in the first inning. He surrendered another run in the first and none the rest of the game, allowing five hits and two walks while striking out five — a continuation of a startling trend of poor performances early in games.

He fell to 9-7 in 19 starts and his ERA jumped from 4.45 to 4.63 — the third-worst in the majors among starting pitchers with at least 100 innings.

Rodón has pitched 103 frames, and he’s not doing much to counter the idea that his six-year, $162 million contract that began last year was a bad investment. In 2023, Rodón scuffled through injuries and ineffectiveness to a 3-8 record and a 6.85 ERA in 14 starts.

“It has not been fun,” Rodón said. “That’s for sure.”

His first-inning ERA ballooned to 9.00 on the season because — despite getting spotted a 1-0 lead thanks to a Gleyber Torres RBI single — he gave up a leadoff single to Yandy Díaz which was followed up by a Randy Arozarena double. Díaz scored when left fielder Alex Verdugo dropped the ball trying to barehand it off the wall in the corner.

Amed Rosario followed with a single to right, and then Isaac Paredes struck the crushing blow: A three-run blast to left field. Rodón left a 96.2 mph fastball low but over the middle of the plate. Boone said Rodón left the pitch in Paredes’ “nitro zone.”

“Bad pitch,” Rodón said.

Manager Aaron Boone said the problem was execution for Rodón, who has given up at least a run in the first inning of four of his last five starts.

“It’s getting the ball to spots consistently,” Boone said. “How do you get there? You can alter a little bit how you get ready in the (bullpen). But at the end of the day, you’re trying to get yourself for the game in your head, getting different pitches to different spots. It comes down to being able to go out there and execute. … Maybe try to get creative there a little bit.”

Rodón said he has to do a better job “deploying the whole arsenal” of his pitches in the first inning. But Boone said he didn’t think Rodón’s failure was a “pitch-mix problem.”

“I put the offense behind and it’s hard for them to claw back from,” the pitcher said. “It’s hard to win games when you’re down by four, five, six, seven, eight runs early on.”

The meltdown came as the Yankees’ rotation entered the night with an MLB-worst 6.44 ERA since the team’s swoon began June 13.

“It’s been really frustrating,” Rodón said.

(Top photo of Carlos Rodón: Julio Aguilar / Getty Images)