Yankees’ Carlos Rodon Breaks Silence on Aaron Boone’s 6th Inning Call

New York Yankees pitcher Carlos Rodon looked better but still couldn’t find his old winning form after the 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds.

After a seven-game winning streak, the $162 million left-hander is now 0-4 with a 10.89 ERA in his last four starts. But he looked better against the Reds, pitching 5.1 innings and allowing three earned runs on three hits.

After the game, Rodon reacted to Yankees manager Aaron Boone’s decision to relieve him with one out in the sixth inning:

Rodon said: “I don’t want it to go bad. I wanted to stay on the field and get the last two outs of that inning, but I understand Tonkin could have left it and easily got two outs. He’s great.”

It’s natural for any starting pitcher to want to stay on the field and finish the job, relatively speaking. Especially after the struggles Rodon has had in his last few starts.

The two-time All-Star struck out eight batters and walked two in 5 1/3 innings, but it wasn’t the result he was looking for.

Pulled after 95 pitches, Rodon walked slowly off the mound to subdued applause from a sellout Yankees crowd of 47,646 on fireworks night and yelled into his glove as he approached the dugout.

Carlos Rodon isn’t the only Yankees starter in trouble

Yankees rookie Luis Gil lost his third straight start, allowing four runs and two hits in four-plus innings with three walks and two hit batters in New York’s 5-4 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Tuesday.

After posting a 9-1 record with a 2.03 ERA in his first 14 outings, Gil is 0-3 with a 14.90 ERA in his last three outings.

Gil had a strong start for the Yankees on Tuesday before things fell apart. He retired nine straight batters before Reds star Elly De La Cruz led off the fourth inning with a single to the right-field corner for his sixth triple of the season. He scored when Jeimer Candelario was thrown out on the next pitch.

De La Cruz also hit a home run in the fifth inning.

Said Boone, of the rookie’s struggles, said: “I don’t think it’s a fatigue issue. I think it’s a little bit of a weird issue and it’s harder to correct on the fly.”

“Maybe the delivery wasn’t exactly what I wanted,” Gil said through the team’s Spanish interpreter. “I can’t say exactly why.”

“You just have to mechanically synchronize your body until you feel comfortable, like I said before,” Gil said, according to Brendan Kuty. “Sometimes you run into obstacles when you compete at this level. But at the same time, I’m sure that if I work hard, I can get through it and things like that won’t happen again.”

Yankees pitcher Marcus Stroman will take the mound Thursday as New York looks to rebound against the Reds.