BALTIMORE — Carlos Rodon finally made the necessary adjustment on Sunday to avoid his first-inning woes.
But the left-hander was still not fully able to pitch like the Yankees need him to.
Rodon gave up only two runs but lasted just four innings because of a high pitch count before the Yankees fell to the Orioles 6-5 in brutal fashion at Camden Yards.
Having been hurt recently by his early dependence on his fastball and slider — leading to a 9.00 ERA in the first inning entering Sunday — Rodon mixed his pitches from the start against the Orioles.
He did not throw a fastball until his 12th pitch of the game and only threw four heaters (compared to eight sliders, three curveballs and two change-ups) in a 1-2-3, 17-pitch first inning.
“It was a little bizarre at first, but just wanted to show I could throw sliders and breaking balls and show the fastball late,” Rodon said. “Got some swing and miss on some fastball [after] showing that breaking stuff earlier.”
The problem on Sunday came in the next three frames as the Orioles forced him to throw 81 pitches from the second through fourth innings and 98 overall.
One of those was a 1-2 slider over the plate that Gunnar Henderson crushed for a two-run homer.
“Obviously wanted to go deeper in the game there with the stuff I had, but they had some good at-bats, they had some long at-bats,” Rodon said. “Just can be better with the breaking stuff in the zone and then getting ahead and limiting the pitch count.”
Jose Trevino on Sunday was diagnosed with a Grade 2 quad strain that will cost him at least a few weeks on the injured list.
“It’ll be some time,” manager Aaron Boone said.
The catcher, who suffered the injury while sliding into home plate in the ninth inning of Friday’s win, received a PRP injection Sunday to help with his recovery.
In the meantime, the Yankees will have a steady dose of Austin Wells starting behind the plate, but the defensively gifted Carlos Narvaez, called up on Saturday to replace Trevino, will also see some time.
Giancarlo Stanton will not return to the Yankees’ lineup immediately after the All-Star break, but he might not be far off.
The slugger, out since June 22 with a hamstring strain that he expected to sideline him for around four weeks, has advanced to running the bases and hitting and could be “really close” to being ready to play when the Yankees start the second half on Friday, Boone said.
The club has not yet determined whether Stanton will go on a rehab assignment before returning.
The Yankees are giving Scott Effross more time to continue his buildup from Tommy John and back surgery, returning him from his rehab assignment Sunday, reinstating him from the 60-day IL and optioning him to Triple-A.
Effross, who has not pitched since the end of the 2022 regular season, made his ninth rehab appearance on Sunday.
If healthy and pitching like he is capable, Effross could give the Yankees bullpen an important boost in the second half.
To make room for Effross on the 40-man roster, the Yankees designated Cody Morris for assignment.
The righty swingman, acquired for Estevan Florial in December, had a 4.25 at Triple-A.
The Yankees’ rotation out of the break will tentatively go Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes, Marcus Stroman, Rodon and Luis Gil.
The rearranged order will allow Cole, who missed the first three months of the season, to maximize his second half while giving Gil, who has already thrown a career-high 102 ¹/₃ innings, to get more of a breather.
After the game, the Yankees optioned infielder Jorbit Vivas to Triple-A.
The prospect was called up on Friday to replace J.D. Davis, but did not get into any games as his MLB debut will have to wait.
Davis is eligible to be activated off the IL when the second half starts on Friday.
Orioles starter Dean Kremer hit Aaron Judge on the elbow with a 94 mph fastball to begin his at-bat in the first inning, which could have been retaliation for Clay Holmes beaning Heston Kjerstad on Friday night. Either way, the plunking did not incite any fireworks from either dugout.
JT Brubaker, who was nearing the end of a rehab assignment coming back from Tommy John surgery, exited Thursday’s start after one inning with an oblique injury.
Boone said he did not think it was “real significant,” but Brubaker has been shut down for now, taking away a potential depth starting option.