Fifty-one days later
Carlos Rodon last threw a pitch in a major league game on June 28. Elbow inflammation took care of the rest of his summer. He comes off the injured list tonight in Baltimore, and the New York Yankees could hardly have picked a tighter moment to get him back.
The left-hander carries a 4-2 record and a 3.30 ERA into the series opener. His history against the Orioles is less flattering: nine appearances, eight of them starts, 43 2/3 innings, a 2-3 record and a 4.53 ERA.
Room had to be made. New York placed Max Fried on the injured list Monday with a bone bruise in his left elbow, swapping one left-hander for another in a rotation that has spent the season being rebuilt on the fly.
Try it for $0.99.
Two teams arriving from opposite directions
The Yankees hold the top wild-card spot in the American League and still look unfinished. They lost three straight before scraping past Toronto 4-3 in 10 innings on Sunday, then sat out Monday. The lineup has been held to one run or none in four of its past seven games, with Aaron Judge out and the offence never quite recovering.
“This season has tested our character and our resilience, and I think we have a lot of that,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’ve got to keep fighting and know that we’re an incomplete team, but we have a chance to be who we want to be.”
Baltimore comes in from the other side. Three games under .500, yet level with Texas and Detroit in a three-way tie for the final AL wild card, with four more clubs within two games. The Orioles took the first three from Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg before the bullpen coughed up a two-run seventh-inning lead and lost 7-6 on Monday.
“It was a really good series for us,” Baltimore manager Craig Albernaz said. “We’re trying to win every game we can knowing where we’re at in the season.”
Alonso is carrying the surge
Pete Alonso homered again Monday and was named AL Player of the Week hours earlier, after going 12-for-22 with two homers, five RBIs and four walks. That makes five straight seasons with at least one weekly award, something no other player in the majors has managed.
Over his last eight games he is hitting .567 with five homers and 10 RBIs. He sits two long balls short of a sixth consecutive 30-homer season, and his 63 walks already beat the 61 he drew across all 162 games last year with the Mets.
Shane Baz starts for Baltimore. He has gone more than two months without a win, and the Orioles have lost each of his last five outings. The Yankees have taken five of seven meetings this year, though the teams have not faced each other since May 13.
Discover the rest of our MLB news on MathODDS!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply