Rodon leads Yanks over Marlins
CITY: Carlos Rodón allowed two unearned run in six-plus innings, Alex Verdugo homered, and the New York Yankees beat the Miami Marlins, 3-2, on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) to match their best 12game start.
New York won its fourth straight and improved to a major leaguebest 10-2, equaling the starts of the Yankees in 1922, 1949 and 2003 — all pennant-winning teams.
The Yankees also started with four straight series wins for the second straight season — the only time they won their first five series was 1926.
“You can’t take them off the board, and they matter now as much as any time,” New York manager Aaron Boone said. “Any time you can play a stretch of games like this, you sure sign up for it. You’d take it.”
Miami dropped to 1-11 for the first time since losing 11 in a row after an opening victory in 1998. The Marlins are the first team to lose 11 of their first 12 since Baltimore in 2010.
Rodon (1-0) allowed four hits in six-plus innings for his fourth win in 12 decisions since signing a $162-million, six-year contract. He is 1-0 with a 1.72 ERA (earned run average) in three starts.
“A step in the right direction today, just keep going,” Rodón said. “Confidence is growing for sure.”
Verdugo admired his first Yankee Stadium homer in pinstripes, dropping to one knee after swinging at A.J. Puk’s 1-0 sweeper. He watched the ball land a few rows back of the short porch in right and raised his arm midway through the home run trot.
After reaching the dugout, Verdugo was met by teammates jumping up and down, and barking — a reference to his calling teammates “dawgs” following the opening four-game sweep at Houston.
“I love it, I love it,” said Verdugo, who was wearing a gray T-shirt that said: “Bronx Dawgs.”
“I got [Anthony] Rizzo throwing up the little ‘arf, arf, arf,’ so it’s a lot of fun. They’re running with it and we love it.”