Still in search of his first major league victory, right-hander Elmer Rodriguez will take the mound on Monday night when the New York Yankees open a three-game series with the struggling Los Angeles Angels on Monday night in Anaheim, Calif.
It will be the sixth career start for the hard-throwing 23-year-old Rodriguez (0-2, 4.70 ERA), who is rated the Yankees’ top pitching prospect (No. 3 overall) by MLB Pipeline.
Rodriguez was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to fill the rotation spot created when Ryan Weathers was placed on the 15-day injured list Aug. 23 with a left forearm flexor strain.
Rodriguez started four games earlier in the season. His first start since being recalled came Wednesday in a 9-3 win against the Houston Astros when he allowed three runs on three hits in a career-best six-plus innings, but he didn’t pick up a decision. He walked two and struck out six while averaging 97.2 mph with his sinker.
“He was nasty,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “That’s what we get excited about right there. I think he got their attention right away. You’re seeing 97, 98, 99 (mph) sinkers filling up the zone, spinning a good breaking ball. Man, that was really encouraging to see.”
“I know I have the stuff to go out there and compete,” said Rodriguez, who received a standing ovation when he departed after issuing a leadoff walk to Jose Altuve to begin the seventh inning. “I know I have the stuff to do that.”
Rodriguez will face a Los Angeles team that tied its season-high seven-game losing streak with a 5-2 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday and is tied with the Colorado Rockies for the worst record in baseball (52-85).
The Angels are batting a woeful .195 during the seven-game streak while scoring just 21 runs and allowing 35. Since the All-Star break, the Angels are batting a MLB-worst .218.
“We come here to win every single day,” Los Angeles manager Kurt Suzuki said after the loss on Sunday. “Obviously, there’s frustration, whatever you want to call it, but at the end of the day, the pitching has been really good. We’ve been in every single game pretty much and have had a chance to win every game. You try to look at the positives going forward. … If you become too negative sometimes, it’s not going to help.”
One big positive for the Angels has been the performance of rookie right-hander Walbert Urena (8-9, 2.94), who will start the series opener.
Urena, who has not faced the Yankees, leads the current roster in wins and ERA and is second to Reid Detmers in strikeouts with 112 in 116 1/3 innings. Opposing hitters are batting just .203 against him, the lowest by an Angels starter.
The Yankees, winners of 10 of their past 14 games, come in off a 16-1 thumping of the Boston Red Sox on Sunday to take three of four games in that series. Perhaps more importantly, New York also won the season series, 7-6, which serves as a tiebreaker to determine home field advantage should the two rivals meet in the postseason.
Reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge, out since May 31 with a right rib fracture, is accompanying the club for its six-game Southern California trip, which concludes with three games in San Diego, to continue his rehab. Boone said Judge potentially could take some on-field batting practice.
“I’m sure it will be ramped up and a lot more involved,” Boone said. “He’ll start to get on velocity and things like that. He’ll be part of the pregame stuff and just get more entrenched into getting ready to come back.”
–Field Level Media
