NEW YORK. – Carlos Rodon was a beacon of serenity, calmly walking around and off the mound after each of his nine strikeouts.
About the only semblance of emotion Rodon displayed was lifting his glove to applaud and acknowledge Aaron Judge for running down Jose Ramirez’s fly ball to the gap in left-center field to end the sixth inning with the New York Yankees holding a three-run lead.
A week after getting too amped up early and eventually faltering, Rodon displayed a more stoic version of himself and pitched six solid innings to help the New York Yankees open the American League Championship Series with a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night (Tuesday in Manila).
“The goal was to just stay in control, stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodon said. “I thought I executed that well tonight.”
Rodon entered with an 11.37 career postseason ERA after starting strong and fading in the fourth inning in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against Kansas City. After each of his seven strikeouts in that game, he wildly stalked the mound and let out loud yells while pumping his fist, something the Royals poked fun at after they tagged him for four runs.
He viewed ace Gerrit Cole display a “poker face” during seven strong innings in New York’s ALDS clincher on Thursday and hoped to replicate the former Cy Young Award winner’s demeanor.
“I watched Gerrit throw that Game 4 in Kansas City, and mentally I was taking notes on how he was going out there and going about it, and I just wanted to kind of go about it the same way,” Rodon said. “I thought I did well with that tonight.
but not what might be the most important factor, which way the wind is blowing.
The left-hander allowed only Brayan Rocchio’s homer to start the sixth among three hits. He struck out nine–the most by a Yankee in the postseason since Cole also fanned nine in Game 5 of the Division Series against Tampa Bay in 2020.
