Rodón Dominates Orioles With Changeup, Demonstrates Yankees’ Deepening Arsenal

Carlos Rodón leaned on an especially sharp changeup to cruise through seven innings in the Yankees’ 6-1 win over the Orioles on Saturday, a performance that underscored how the left-hander’s repertoire has evolved this season.

For the first time since 2018, neither the four-seam fastball nor the slider was Rodón’s most-used pitch. The changeup was his primary offering, thrown 32 times in 96 pitches and generating 12 swings-and-misses, including three of his eight strikeouts. “I thought just the way Ben [Rice] called that game set up the changeup well,” Rodón said. “He called the pitches, I just tried to go execute. Outer lane was open with the fastball, I just tried to tunnel that with the changeup. I was fortunate to have a good one today.” Manager Aaron Boone added that the changeup and slider were “really good” and that Rodón showed pitchability with the sinker and four-seamer as well.

Rodón scattered four hits (two infield singles) and walked one, the only blemish coming in the seventh when Baltimore pushed across a run. He earned his career-high 17th win while lowering his ERA to 3.04 in his 32nd start of the season. The left-hander kept Baltimore off balance most of the night and finished with seven innings of one-run ball.

Starting at shortstop for the third straight game, Anthony Volpe went 2-for-3 with a walk and a steal, reaching base three times for the second time in his past four games. He had reached base three times in a game only once in 67 games earlier this season and has looked steadier at the plate and in the field since receiving a cortisone injection in his left shoulder.

Aaron Judge started in right field for the third straight game, the first time he has done so since returning from a right elbow flexor strain. Boone said the plan was to use him as the designated hitter on Sunday with Giancarlo Stanton likely to be held out, a day-to-day approach as the team manages workload down the stretch.

Elmer Rodríguez-Cruz, one of the Yankees’ top pitching prospects, made his Triple-A debut with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, allowing four runs on eight hits across five innings with three strikeouts. The 22-year-old right-hander, acquired from the Red Sox last offseason for catcher Carlos Narváez, had been slated to start Game 3 of Double-A Somerset’s playoff series before the club was eliminated in two games. Rodríguez-Cruz’s strong season between High-A and Double-A earned him a late-season bump to Triple-A.