Carlos Rodon earned his fifth straight win by pitching six solid innings as the host New York Yankees became the second team in the American League to reach 30 victories with a 1-0 victory over the struggling Texas Rangers on Thursday afternoon.
Rodon (6-3) allowed just two hits in his latest win and is 5-0 with a 1.32 ERA in his past seven starts to lower his ERA from 5.48 to 2.88. The left-hander struck out eight, walked two and threw 67 of 105 pitches for strikes.
Rodon allowed a single to Josh Jung with two outs in the first inning but retired Jake Burger to end the frame. He then gave up a ground-rule double to Sam Haggerty and walked Wyatt Langford two innings later, but Rodon bounced back and retired Jung on a groundout escape the jam.
Langford drew a one-out walk in the sixth, stole second and advanced on a wild pitch. Rodon, though, stranded him by fanning Burger on his final pitch.
Rookie Jorbit Vivas hit his first career homer when he sent the first pitch of the fifth from Texas starter Nathan Eovaldi (4-3) into the right field seats.
Vivas also reached base on catcher’s interference and was the only Yankee to reach twice against Eovaldi.
Aaron Judge went 0-for-3 with a walk, dropping his average to .396, while Cody Bellinger was 0-for-4 to see his career-high 15-game hitting streak snapped.
Rodon’s performance and Vivas’ homer helped the Yankees win their fourth straight and for the 11th time in 14 games. New York also joined the 33-win Detroit Tigers as the only AL teams with at least 30 wins.
Mark Leiter Jr. struck out Josh Smith to strand two in the seventh and Devin Williams pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. Luke Weaver induced two flyouts to right field and then recorded a strikeout in a perfect ninth to earn his seventh save.
Eovaldi allowed one run on five hits in six innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked one after entering the game 3-0 over his previous five starts.
The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games after a six-game winning streak.
–Field Level Media
