TORONTO — The Yankees lost their first series of the season on Tuesday when they fell to the Blue Jays, 5-4.
Like Luis Gil on Monday, Carlos Rodón had a tough time navigating Toronto’s lineup despite limited damage. That appeared evident right away, as the southpaw needed 32 pitches to get through the first inning. Twelve of those were thrown to Bo Bichette, who won a lengthy battle with a walk.
“Give them props, because they had some really good at-bats,” Rodón said. “They made me work. It was tough. I wish I was better tonight. I had good stuff. I had stuff to get guys out, but they had a good approach today.”
Rodón, pitching to Jose Trevino for the first time in a major league game, ultimately required 101 pitches to get through four innings. He totaled three earned runs, four free passes and five strikeouts while his ERA climbed from 2.87 to 3.66.
In addition to the walks, Aaron Boone said that a barrage of foul balls hurt Rodón.
“They outlasted him,” the manager said. “Sometimes the other team’s really good. They just kept spoiling what I thought were a lot of really good pitches tonight.”
Added Rodón: “I just need to be more effective with the secondaries and get in the zone so I can pitch deeper in the game.”
Toronto’s first run came in the third inning when Justin Turner tied the game with a sac fly. That was the only damage Rodón permitted that inning after the Blue Jays loaded the bases with nobody out, but his pitch count was at 72 by the time the frame ended.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. added two more runs off Rodón with an RBI single in the fourth.
The Blue Jays plated two more runs in the sixth on a Gleyber Torres error and a Bichette single.
“He just didn’t secure the ball,” Boone said of Torres’ mishap, which came on an attempt to catch the Blue Jays stealing.
While Rodón labored more than he has all season, Yusei Kikuchi made easy work of the Yankees for the second time this year. The lefty previously blanked the Bombers while striking out seven over 5.1 innings on April 5.
Kikuchi was even better on Tuesday, punching out nine, walking none and holding the Yankees to four hits over six innings.
“Man, he looks good right now,” Boone said. “The stuff is really good. He’s getting to areas he wants to. You gotta respect the fastball, but the secondary stuff’s really playing as well, and he’s thrown the ball really well against us. He got the better of us tonight.”
Aaron Judge, who is now hitting .182 after an 0-for-4 evening, added that Kikuchi does a great job of using his entire arsenal to keep hitters off balance.
“He’s a great left-handed pitcher,” the outfielder said.
While Kikuchi didn’t permit an earned run, Giancarlo Stanton slowly scored in the second inning when Toronto catcher Danny Jansen couldn’t handle a throw that beat the slugger by several steps.
That RBI went to Trevino, who picked up another with a seventh-inning groundout. Oswaldo Cabrera drove in another run with a sac fly after that.
Trevino picked up a third RBI with another groundout in the ninth, but the Yankees’ comeback bid fell short.
“In the end, we got outplayed tonight. They played a heck of a game in a lot of ways,” Boone said, noting a few sparkling defensive plays Davis Schneider and Daulton Varsho made in left field.
The Yankees and Blue Jays will wrap up their series on Wednesday afternoon when Marcus Stroman faces Kevin Gausman.
Stroman began his career in Toronto, pitching for the Blue Jays from 2014-2019. The right-hander has gotten off to a solid start with the Yankees, recording a 2.12 ERA over his first three starts for the team. However, Stroman is coming off an uncharacteristic four-walk night against the Marlins on April 10. He also allowed four earned runs in that loss.
Gausman, meanwhile, is looking to rebound from two awful starts. The 2023 Cy Young finalist struggled with his velocity while giving up five earned runs over 1.1 innings against the Yankees on April 6. He followed that performance up with another clunker against the Rockies, who tagged him for six earned runs over 3.2 innings on April 12.
