NEW YORK – Always lurking, in any close game involving Carlos Rodon, is the chance someone will take him deep and sink an otherwise solid start.
That happened in Sunday’s sixth inning.
And that someone was Jung Hoo Lee, whose game-breaking three-run shot was the lefty hitter’s second homer of the day off Rodon.
After walking Willy Adames with one out, putting runners at first and second, Rodon hung a 1-and-2 curveball to Lee, who lashed it over the right field wall.
Suddenly, a two-run Yankee lead became a one-run deficit, and the San Francisco Giants went on to a 5-4 win at Yankee Stadium.
In this early part of the 2025 season, the Yankees (8-7) are still trying to gain some traction, having now lost two straight series and three of their last four after a season-opening sweep of Milwaukee.
Rodon entered his first ever start against the Giants (11-4) with a 5.19 ERA, coming off losses to Arizona and Detroit where he lasted six innings each time.
On Sunday, Rodon sailed into the sixth with a 3-1 lead, and Lee’s fourth-inning solo homer was the only hit against him.
He’d also yielded just one walk to that point; Rodon had been especially annoyed at the number of free passes he’d issued – nine walks in his first 17.1 innings to start the year.
“I’m definitely tired of walking people,’’ Rodon said after last Monday’s 6-2 loss at Detroit. “It’s frustrating. I don’t want to give up free bases.’’
But that one-out walk to Adames would prove costly in front of Lee, who erased a 3-1 Yankee lead built after two innings.
Aaron Judge doubled off the center field wall and scored on Paul Goldschmidt’s one-out single in the first, and the Yanks scored twice in the second on consecutive doubles by Jasson Dominguez and JC Escarra (first MLB RBI) and an RBI single by leadoff man Ben Rice.
The damage came against Giants starter Logan Webb, who lasted five innings and yielded three runs.
A rare Goldschmidt fielding error at first base led to an unearned run in the seventh, which the Yanks got back in the eighth on Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s solo home run.
That blast to right broke a personal 0-for-24 skid for Chisholm Jr., who connected off Tyler Rogers.
Ryan Walker saved it in the ninth, striking out Judge looking with nobody on base to end it.
Marcus Stroman injury update
Marcus Stroman landed on the 15-day injured list Saturday due to left knee inflammation, but the feeling is that he’ll return to the rotation sooner than later.
“Hoping it’s not long,’’ said manager Aaron Boone. “Hopefully get him ramped up really quick and (the rest and treatment) is something that helps him moving forward.’’
Stroman received a cortisone shot on Saturday and his MRI results were “good’’ according to Boone, who noticed that the right-hander had difficulty finishing his delivery on Friday night.
On that cool, rainy evening, Stroman was tagged for five runs and couldn’t get out of the first inning of an eventual 9-1 Giants win. After the game, Stroman was sent for X-rays.
Meanwhile, Clarke Schmidt (shoulder fatigue) is set to come off the injured list and make his 2025 debut Wednesday night, starting against the Kansas City Royals.
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