The Yankees’ bats were kept in check by Zac Gallen, picking up just three hits against the right-hander before the offense woke up late in their 4-3 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a cold, windy night in The Bronx on Wednesday.
–Carlos Rodon‘s second start of the season wasn’t as good as his first, but if you tuned in for the first couple of innings, you’d be surprised by how well the southpaw recovered.
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In the first, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. smashed a 94.2 mph fastball up in the zone that went into the second deck in left field. In the second, Rodon had some tough luck, reaching for a groundball up the middle that, if he let go, could have been a double play. Instead, everyone was safe. Arizona would caash in with a sac fly to push their lead to 3-0, and then Ketel Marte — who signed a big extension earlier in the day — gave the D-backs a four-run lead with a two-out, seeing-eye single.
After that, Rodon was cruising. He wound up completing six innings, allowing the four runs on three hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Impressive, considering how poorly Rodon pitched.
-But even if Rodon allowed just one run, it wouldn’t have mattered, considering how well Gallen pitched. The Arizona right-hander entered Wednesday with two career starts against the Yankees, and he was dominant. He hadn’t allowed a run in 12 innings against the Bombers, and he continued his dominance.
Gallen got into trouble just once in this game, which came in the second inning after a Jazz Chisholm Jr. single and Austin Wells double, but Jasson Dominguez and Ben Rice struck out swinging on knuckle curves. The Yankees struck out seven times on Gallens’ knuckle curve and 13 times in total against him. Gallen allowed just three hits in 6.2 innings (101 pitches/64 strikes) without allowing a walk.
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-Even when Gallen was out of the game, the Yankees struggled. Joe Mantiply pitched a perfect inning and Ryan Thompson got an out before he allowed back-to-back singles in the top of the ninth. Arizona went to AJ Puk to close out the game, but the southpaw allowed a first-pitch homer to Anthony Volpe to cut their lead to 4-3. The comeback bid ended when Wells and Dominguez went down in order.
It was Volpe’s fourth home run of the season and he had just one of the team’s six hits. Cody Bellinger (1-4), Aaron Judge (1-4) and Wells (2-4) were the only players to register a hit.
Arizona’s lineup wasn’t much better — they produced just three hits against Rodon. Yoendrys Gomez allowed three walks while striking out one in three innings of work.
The Yankees and Diamondbacks complete their three-game series on Thursday. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.
Carlos Carrasco will make his first start with the Yankees, opposing veteran Merrill Kelly.
