Carlos Rodón allows pair of costly homers in Yankees' 5-4 loss to Giants

The welcome return of comfortable April weather didn't assist the Yankees on Sunday afternoon, as they fell to the San Francisco Giants, 5-4, in a rubber game at Yankee Stadium.

Here are the takeaways...

-- It didn't take long for the Yankees to irritate Giants ace Logan Webb. After a blistering one-out double to center from Aaron Judge in the first inning, Paul Goldschmidt delivered a two-out RBI single to right to make the score 1-0. The bottom half of the order contributed in the second, when back-to-back doubles from Jasson Dominguez and J.C. Escarra and an RBI single from Ben Rice bumped the lead to 3-0. Webb limited the damage to those three runs, but he only lasted five innings.

-- Carlos Rodón relied on heavy use of his slider that proved largely effective, but a few mistake pitches to Jung Hoo Lee spoiled an overall strong peformance. His first hiccup came in the fourth, when he gave up a solo home run to the second-year outfielder after retiring 10 of the first 11 batters faced. Then, with two on in the sixth, he was punished yet again by Lee, as he hung a curveball that landed over the right field wall for a go-ahead three-run shot.

-- Despite striking out eight for a second straight outing, Rodón fell one out shy of completing six frames. He threw 100 pitches -- 62 for strikes -- and surrended four-plus runs for a third time this season. His ERA now sits at a bloated 5.48 across four starts (23 innings).

-- San Francisco tacked on its fifth run in the seventh, facing reliever Mark Leiter Jr. The inning began with a double from Casey Schmitt, and he managed to score from second when Goldschmidt committed a fielding error on a one-out grounder hit by Christian Koss. New York then turned to Ian Hamilton, who registered a pair of strikeouts and walks across five batters faced.

-- The Yankees showed signs of a rally in the eighth, when Jazz Chisholm Jr. snapped a ghastly 0-for-24 slide at the plate with a solo home run to right. But Giants closer Ryan Walker shut that door in the ninth, retiring pinch-hitter Austin Wells, Rice, and Judge in order. New York hit 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left seven runners on base.

Game MVP: Jung Hoo Lee

Lee played the role of hero, driving in four with his pair of homers off Rodón. He finished the series with three jacks, four walks, a double, and seven RBI in nine at-bats.

Highlights