Carlos Rodón to start Game 2 of AL Division Series for Yankees against Royals

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Rodón will start Game 2 of the AL Division Series for the New York Yankees against Kansas City.

AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole will start Saturday's opener and is lined up to pitch Game 4 of the best-of-five series on Oct. 10. Rodón would be on track to pitch a Game 5 on Oct. 12.

A 31-year-old left-hander, Rodón was 16-9 with a 3.96 ERA over 172 innings in 32 starts in the second season of a $162 million, six-year contract. He was 3-8 with a career-worst 6.85 ERA over 14 outings in a 2023 season that didn’t start until July 7 because a strained left forearm and back stiffness.

“Getting him a second start potentially in Game 5 was interesting,” pitching coach Matt Blake said Wednesday. “The mental growth we’ve seen of just understanding who he is, understanding who he can be going forward and then just seeing how the league’s adjusting to him. I think he’s done a really nice job of just continuing to evolve.”

Rodón used 49% fastballs this season, 26% sliders, 13% changeups, 8% curveballs and 4% cutters, while last year he threw 60% fastballs, 29% sliders, 6% curves and 4% changeups.

“He finally got to the point where he trusted the curveball and changeup to really be the third, and fourth option,” Blake said.

New York has not decided on its Game 3 starter for Monday. Rookie Luis Gil (15-7, 3.50 ERA) and Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA) are the primary candidates.

“It'll probably be a little bit determined by how the games go, probably Game 1 in particular, what that looks like, how much of the bullpen we use, if we use either of those guys,” Blake said.

Schmidt was primarily a reliever in 2022 before moving to the rotation.

“A Swiss Army knife option for us,” Blake said. “He can either pitch one inning in a high-leverage spot or go across multiple innings if we need him to.”

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