SWB RAILRIDERS: Rodón makes rehab start; Rochester romps to fourth straight win

MOOSIC — New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodón made a rehab start for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders on Saturday night at PNC Field against the Rochester Red Wings.

Although he allowed three runs on three hits — including a home run — in 2.2 innings, the lefthander was pleased with how he felt after the outing.

“It was good to get back on the mound and compete,” Rodón said. The goal was to get out there and get 48 pitches in. So I’m happy with how I feel.

“Barring the results, I just feel good about how I came out of the game.”

Rochester hit four home runs for the second consecutive night and third time in the series to romp to a 9-0 win, handing the RailRiders their fourth consecutive loss before a crowd of 4,564. Seven pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts in the seven-hit shutout as the Red Wings threw a bullpen game for the second day in a row.

Tyler Hardman had two hits for the RailRiders (23-13, 60-50), who fell out of first place in the International League second-half standings, one-half game behind the Worcester Red Sox and Durham Bulls. Anthony Volpe, playing his second game since being sent down by the Yankees, was 1 for 4 with a double and two strikeouts. He also started at second base. Jasson Dominguez, also in his second game since being sent down, was 0 for 4 but did have an outfield assist, throwing out Phillip Glasser trying to stretch a single into a double leading off the top of the fifth inning.

Rodón made his last start June 28. He was placed on the 15-day injured list July 3, retroactive to June 30, with left elbow inflammation.

On Saturday night, he threw 48 pitches (29 strikes). He walked two, struck out four and topped out at 93.8 mph on a pitch to Seaver King in the top of the third inning.

“I’m OK with it,” Rodón said. “I think it will tick up when I get on the mound at Yankee Stadium.

“I had a good mix. Obviously, I was working on fastball command mostly. Mixing some sliders and changeups, a couple of sinkers. Just normal work.”

His third pitch of the game was sent 408+ feet out to the grassy area beyond the center-field fence by King for a home run and a quick 1-0 Rochester lead.

“It was just a fastball middle down and he put a good swing on it,” Rodón said. “Tip of the cap, that’s good for him.”

After that, he got Glasser to ground out to Volpe at second, Yohandy Morales to ground out to shortstop Oswaldo Cabrera and struck out Trey Lipscomb on a 3-2 fastball to end the top of the first. In the second, he retired the Red Wings in order. He got Riley Adams to fly out to Yanquiel Fernandez in right field, caught Sam Petersen looking at a 1-2 slider, then got Cayden Wallace to ground out to Cabrera at short, who made a nice backhanded grab in the hole and strong throw to first.

Maxwell Romero Jr. struck out on three pitches to begin the top of the third. However, that’s when things went awry for Rodón. Leandro Pineda dunked a double inside the right-field foul line. After King walked, Glasser tripled into the right-field corner to score both Pineda and King and give Rochester a 3-0 lead.

“Sinkers in, I’m not upset with the pitches,” Rodón said. “I think the exit velo on both of them was pretty low. One was 78, the other was 80-something. Obviously, the results for them were good. If I’m nitpicky, I’m probably a little more down with the sinker. But they were three balls inside. I think I broke one bat.

“I’m not too caught up in the results. There’s more important games to be pitched.”

Morales walked and Lipscomb struck out. With a 1-1 count to Adams, RailRiders manager Shelley Duncan came out to get Rodón since he reached his 48-pitch limit.

“He showed some glimpses of good stuff today. It’s not his best, but you’re not going to see his best in the process of building up to where he wants to be and that’s understandable,” Duncan said. “It’s a journey when you come back from anything and develop a pitch count. But he was attacking the zone, his slider looked good, his fastball looked good. They hit that home run and he had bad luck with that double down the line. But it was good. He got his work in, got what he needed to get done. Just keep moving forward. Looking forward to him getting healthy and helping that big-league team.”

What is next for Rodón remains unclear. He could make another rehab start. He could also rejoin the Yankees and have another pitcher “piggyback” him in starts while he builds up his pitch count.

“It’s beyond my control,” Rodón said. “Just looking forward to getting back on the mound whether it’s here or Double-A, maybe in the big leagues I don’t know. I’m assuming it will be one more rehab start, but I’m not sure. It’s not up to me.

“It might be a pitch-count thing. Obviously I need to get the pitch count up. If it’s another rehab start, we’ll work on a couple more things and I’ll be happy with it.”

Whatever the case, Rodón is eager to get back to pitching for the Yankees.

“It’s pretty frustrating having to be in this situation once again, not being able to compete and trying to help the team win,” he said. “We’ve struggled as of late, but I feel like we’ve played some pretty good baseball considering a lot of close games — 2-1, 2-0 — that we’ve had to learn how to win. I think that will make us better down the stretch.”

As for the rest of Saturday’s game, Rochester got a sacrifice fly from Pineda in the fourth inning and a RBI single by Petersen in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-0. In the sixth, Pineda hit a solo home run and Morales added a two-run blast to make it 8-0. Lipscomb capped the scoring with a home run leading off the top of the ninth.

In winning the last four games, the Red Wings have outscored the RailRiders, 40-11, and hit 14 home runs.

The closest the RailRiders came to scoring Saturday was in the third inning. Hardman singled with one out and Volpe doubled into the left-field corner with two outs. But Hardman was thrown out at the plate on the play.

Volpe played second base for the fi...

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