The Rays spent the weekend like tourists taking a leisurely stroll through Central Park, except they were doing it around the bases at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees spent Monday afternoon returning the favor, in more ways than one. Carlos Rodon mostly kept the Rays off the bases altogether in a dominant bounce-back effort while the Yankees out-slugged them with five home runs on the way to a 9-1 win in The Bronx.
Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, DJ LeMahieu and Juan Soto (twice) all homered to power the Yankees (60-42) to a split of the four-game series ahead of Tuesday’s Subway Series showdown. They mostly took their time around the bases as well — especially Soto after his first homer, taking 37.7 seconds after a towering 424-foot blast into the luxury boxes — offering a tribute to what the Rays (50-50) had done on Saturday and Sunday.
Among the Rays’ eight home runs over the weekend, Randy Arozarena and Jose Siri in particular took their sweet time trotting the bases, which angered the crowd. Siri was responsible for the only damage off Rodon on Monday with a solo shot and took 30 seconds to get from the batter’s box to the plate , with plenty of gesturing to his teammates and the crowd along the way. “It’s a new world,” manager Aaron Boone said before Monday’s game.
“I look away sometimes. That’s part of it. Guys are going to do what they do.
It’s on us, each individual, to handle themselves how they want. If somebody doesn’t like it, it’s on us to keep them in the ballpark.” Rodon did a strong job of that on Monday in his best start in over a month, striking out a season-high 10 across seven innings.
The left-hander had posted a 9.67 ERA in his last six starts before the All-Star break but returned to his early-season form on Monday, if not better. Of Rodon’s 10 strikeouts – tying the most he has recorded as a Yankee – seven came on his slider.
But he leaned on his fastball early as he mowed down the Rays, not allowing a hit until Siri’s blast with one out in the fifth inning. Wells and Volpe gave the Yankees an early jolt by going back-to-back in the second inning for the 2-0 lead after Rays right-hander Zack Littell had struck out the side in the first. It marked Volpe’s first home run since May 16 after going 56 games without one.
Oswaldo Cabrera, getting a start at second base for Gleyber Torres, came through with a clutch hit with two outs in the fourth inning. He snuck a ground ball through the right side to score Judge and Wells for the 4-0 lead. Then LeMahieu got off the schneid in the bottom of the fifth, belting his first home run of the season (in his 40th game) and snapping an 0-for-18 skid with a wall-scraper off Littell.
Soto then put an exclamation mark on the day, crushing a long solo shot in the seventh inning and a three-run blast in the eighth to give him 25 home runs on the season..
