Yankees’ Carlos Rodon puts hot streak on the line against Guardians

Although it was a frustrating weekend at Dodger Stadium during their massively hyped series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Yankees still enjoyed a strong West Coast trip.

Coming off a 6-3 road trip, the Yankees return home Tuesday night for the opener of a three-game series with the Cleveland Guardians.

The Yankees will play 13 of their next 19 at home after going a combined 10-5 on two West Coast trips in recent weeks. On the last trip, New York won five of the six games against the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels before struggling against the Dodgers.

After getting outscored 26-7 in the first two games against the defending world champions, the Yankees rebounded nicely with a 7-3 victory on Sunday night. Ben Rice hit a two-run homer and DJ LeMahieu collected four of New York’s 11 hits for the second baseman’s first four-hit game since June 26, 2021.

“This team has bounced back from whatever tough losses we’ve had. We’ve had a handful of them in the first couple of months,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “They played a really great game to give us a really good trip going back home.”

The Yankees won seven straight series before the encounter with the Dodgers, but they return home with 17 wins in their past 23 games. That includes seven of their last eight games at Yankee Stadium, where they are 18-9 overall.

The Guardians took two of three from the Yankees when they met April 21-23 in Cleveland and enter this series with seven wins in their past 11 games since dropping five straight May 14-19. Cleveland just took two of three from the Angels at home and ended the series with a 4-2 win Sunday.

Jose Ramirez homered and had two hits Sunday to boost his average to .426 (23-for-54) over his past 13 games. Ramirez had a 21-game hitting streak stopped on Friday, but he homered and had multi-hit games in Cleveland’s two wins over the Angels.

Outfielder Nolan Jones drove in two runs with two hits on Sunday, which puts him 8-for-14 in his past four games and 16-for-48 (.333) over his last 16 appearances.

“That’s all we want to do is get hits and score runs and get RBIs and hit home runs,” Jones said. “Seeing a couple fall definitely feels good. Takes a little weight off your shoulders and allows you to play more free.”

Opening the series for the Yankees is Carlos Rodon (7-3, 2.60), who allowed just one run while winning his last three starts and owns a 6-0 record with a 1.27 ERA over his last eight starts. Rodon turned in his second straight scoreless start and fourth of the season last Tuesday when he allowed five hits in seven innings and fanned 10 in a 3-2 win over the Angels.

Rodon’s second start in his current winning streak was April 23 in Cleveland, when he allowed an unearned run on four hits and struck out eight in a 5-1 win. The left-hander has faced Cleveland more than any other team in his career and owns a 9-5 record with a 2.66 ERA in 22 career appearances (20 starts) against the Guardians. He has limited Ramirez to a .220 average (11-for-50) with no homers in their matchups.

Tanner Bibee (4-5, 3.86) will start for Cleveland. Bibee is 1-3 with a 3.24 ERA in his past four outings and took the loss Tuesday when he allowed four runs on seven hits in five innings during a 9-5 loss to the Dodgers.

Bibee is 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA in two career regular-season starts against the Yankees. The win came April 22, when he allowed two runs on five hits in six innings of a 3-2 victory.

–Field Level Media