NEW YORK — Carlos Rodon’s lowest moment for the New York Yankees occurred in the final start of a disastrous 2023 season on the mound in Kansas City.
While Rodon was going through a nightmarish first season in New York, Cole Ragans was providing 12 starts as the Kansas City Royals concluded a 106-loss campaign and looked ahead to better results in 2024.
Rodon bounced back in a big way to help the Yankees win the American League East, while Ragans dominated at times as the Royals reached the postseason for the first time since 2015. Game 2 of their AL Division Series on Monday features both left-handers on the mound.
The Yankees are attempting to take a 2-0 lead after opening the series with a 6-5 win on Saturday. Alex Verdugo hit the tiebreaking RBI single in the seventh inning for the game’s fifth lead change and also made a sliding catch in left field for the final out of the fourth to strand two.
Verdugo struggled for most of the final three-plus months of his first season with New York, similar to Rodon’s initial campaign when he missed the first three months with a back injury and went 3-8 with a 6.85 ERA in 14 starts. He ended the disastrous season by allowing eight runs without retiring a hitter against the Royals and was seen yelling at pitching coach Matt Blake on the mound.
“I just think that the mental growth we’ve seen of just understanding who he is, understanding who he can be going forward,” Blake said Thursday. “And then just seeing how the league’s adjusting to him, I think he’s done a really nice job of just continuing to evolve.”
This season, Rodon made every start, won a career-high 16 games and increased usage of his changeup and curveball while lowering his reliance on the four-seam fastball.
“I think one of the bigger things is just the confidence, just finding that confidence again to go out and compete,” Rodon said Sunday. “The biggest thing for me is the confidence and the conviction in every pitch that I’m throwing and going out to win ballgames.”
Rodon allowed two earned runs or fewer in 21 of his 32 starts this season, including his last five (2-0, 2.20 ERA). He also completed six innings in 16 starts, including Sept. 9 against the Royals when he allowed four runs (two earned) in six innings in New York’s 10-4 win.
Rodon is making his third career postseason start. In his first two, both with the Chicago White Sox, he allowed a combined four runs on four hits in 2 2/3 innings in the 2020 wild-card round against the Oakland Athletics and the 2021 ALDS against the Houston Astros.
After tying a season-high by issuing eight walks, the Royals are hoping their struggles commanding the strike zone do not carry over to Ragans, especially since they could not win when they held Aaron Judge hitless in four at-bats. Ragans led the Royals with 223 strikeouts this year but also issued a team-worst 67 walks, placing him eighth in the majors.
“I don’t think it was the stadium,” manager Matt Quatraro said after the Royals allowed eight walks for the third time this year. “I think we’ve been here, we’ve played here, we’ve been in big environments. It’s not the stadium. We just didn’t execute pitches.”
Ragans, a first-time All-Star in 2024, issued at least three walks in 13 outings this season. On Sept. 11 at New York, he allowed two runs on three hits and three walks in six innings of a no-decision before the Yankees won in the 11th.
Ragans made his postseason debut in Game 1 of the wild-card series in Baltimore and allowed four hits in six scoreless innings, struck out eight and did not walk a hitter. Regans exited after 80 pitches due to a leg cramp but said he felt fine on Saturday.
“It’s the same game,” Ragans said. “Obviously maybe a little louder. But at the end of the day, after the first pitch, the nerves kind of settle down a little bit, and it’s the same game of baseball we’ve played all year. Just trying to keep that mindset of just execute and it’s the same game of baseball. Just a little louder.”
–Larry Fleisher, Field Level Media