BOSTON — At least by the lofty standards the Yankees rotation has set for itself this season, this qualified as a clunker.
Carlos Rodon reeled it in before it became a full-on, five-alarm fire, but by that point, the damage was already done.
The Red Sox jumped on Rodon for five runs in the first two innings, which was enough to hand the Yankees an 8-4 loss on Saturday night at a sold-out Fenway Park.
Rodon has spent most of this season distancing himself from a brutal 2023, but the first two innings Saturday were reminiscent of his struggles last season.
The Red Sox (36-35) made him work, forcing him to throw 62 pitches just to record six outs, at which point they had racked up five runs on seven hits (most of them bullets) and two walks.
”Just left some balls over the middle part of the plate,” Rodon said. “They hit some balls really hard off me, and I just didn’t get to the areas I wanted to. To put the team down five runs is tough, so it makes it hard for them to claw their way out of it. That’s on me.”
The left-hander went on to retire 10 of the final 11 batters he faced across five innings to keep the Yankees (50-23) within striking distance, though a comeback never fully came to fruition, setting up a rubber game on Sunday night.
”I wish I could have figured it out sooner and got to the spots I wanted to sooner,” Rodon said.
Trailing 6-3 in the eighth inning, the Yankees threatened against former teammate Greg Weissert, who was part of the return in the Alex Verdugo trade.
They loaded the bases with one out and got one run on DJ LeMahieu’s fielder’s choice.
But closer Kenley Jansen entered to retire Anthony Volpe before the Red Sox tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the inning to ice it.
”Tough night,” said Juan Soto, who crushed his 18th home run of the season in the seventh inning, a solo shot, and added a pair of walks. “We hit a couple balls, we had good at-bats, we just couldn’t find the hole. … The clutch hit didn’t come up today, but it is what it is.”
Entering the night, Rodon had pitched at least six innings and given up three runs or fewer in seven straight starts.
But the Red Sox came out firing against him and peppering the Green Monster to take a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
Rodon felt his night was summed up in the first at-bat, when he got ahead 0-2 on Jarren Duran but then left a slider over the middle that was ripped for a double.
“I was ahead and should have buried that slider,” Rodon said. “Lot of instances like that tonight.”
The Red Sox drilled two more RBI doubles off the Monster in the inning before Rodon got out of it at 30 pitches.
The Yankees answered back with two runs in the top of the second against Cooper Criswell on a rally started by Giancarlo Stanton’s single and Anthony Rizzo’s walk.
Two outs later, LeMahieu blooped a single to right field to score both of them to get within 3-2.
But the Red Sox stayed on the attack against Rodon in the bottom of the inning to get their three-run lead back.
With runners on the corners and two outs, Rafael Devers smoked a fastball down the middle for a double to the gap in left-center field to drive in both runs and make it a 5-2 game.
“In the heart of the plate a lot,” manager Aaron Boone said. “[After the first two innings, he] was simply getting to better locations.”
After getting to the Red Sox bullpen by the fifth inning, the Yankees loaded the bases with one out against reliever Justin Slaten.
But the inning quickly fizzled from there as Verdugo grounded into a fielder’s choice, with the Red Sox getting the out at the plate, and Stanton struck out to leave the bases loaded.
“We put together some pretty good at-bats today,” said LeMahieu, who drove in three runs, “and just came up short.”