Carlos Rodon retired the first 16 hitters he faced and pitched six solid innings as the New York Yankees recorded a 9-5 victory over the visiting Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.
The Yankees matched a season high with their seventh straight win and improved to 5-0 in the season series against the Twins. New York has outscored Minnesota 28-7.
Rodon (8-2) won his career-high sixth straight start since allowing seven runs in four-plus innings at Baltimore on May 2. On Wednesday, he gave up two runs on three hits and no walks to go along with a season-best nine strikeouts.
Rodon lost his perfect game bid when Carlos Santana homered into the right field seats with one out in the sixth, slicing the Yankees’ lead to 8-1. Rodon then gave up a single to Kyle Farmer and a double to Manuel Margot before allowing a sacrifice fly to Carlos Correa.
Before allowing Minnesota’s first hit, Rodon was aided by New York’s outfield defense.
Alex Verdugo robbed Byron Buxton of a possible double by crashing into the left field fence for the final out of the second. In the fourth, Juan Soto reached into the crowd along the right field line to catch a foul ball from Margot for the first out.
Aaron Judge drove in five runs and reached base for the 31st straight game. Judge started the scoring in New York’s four-run first off Chris Paddack (4-3) with an RBI groundout and added a three-run triple in the four-run fifth.
Giancarlo Stanton hit an RBI single and Gleyber Torres contributed a two-run double in the first. Judge scored on a sacrifice fly by Verdugo that put New York ahead 8-0 in the fifth and drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth for a 9-2 edge.
Royce Lewis homered for the second straight day in the seventh after being activated off the injured list on Tuesday. Carlos Correa and Buxton added RBI groundouts off New York reliever Dennis Santana.
Paddack was tagged for seven runs on six hits in four-plus innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked two.
Farmer collected two hits and two runs as the Twins took their third loss in four games.
–Field Level Media
