Carlos Rodón was cruising.
Through 4.2 innings on Sunday night, the Yankees left-hander had held the Boston Red Sox scoreless, limiting them to only two baserunners.
Rodón, in the midst of an extended run of dominance, appeared well on his way to another gem.
But the game quickly unraveled.
Rodón surrendered a pair of costly home runs in the Yankees’ 11-7 loss in the Bronx as the rival Red Sox powered their way to a series victory.
Kristian Campbell’s two-run homer tied the score in the fifth inning, while Carlos Narvaez’s three-run shot in the sixth proved to be the game-winner. Both blasts came on four-seam fastballs up in the zone.
“Campbell puts a good swing on the ball away,” Rodón said. “The one up and in [to Narvaez], I executed, but he makes a better swing. Obviously, looking for a swing and miss. Just need to be better.”
Those were two of the five home runs clubbed by the Red Sox, giving them enough offense to survive a pair of homers by Aaron Judge.
Red Sox rookie Hunter Dobbins, meanwhile, picked up the win after declaring he’d rather retire than play for the Yankees.
Dobbins looked like he’d be in for a long night when Judge drilled a two-run home run on the right-hander’s sixth pitch of the game, giving the Yankees a 2-0 lead.
“I really didn’t hear about it until [ESPN’s] Eduardo Pérez told me before the game,” Judge said of Dobbins’ comments. “I’ve only heard Ken Griffey say that, so I was a little surprised.”
Asked if Dobbins’ remark went through his head during his first-inning at-bat, Judge replied, “Once somebody tells you, yeah.”
Dobbins settled in from there, and the score remained the same through four innings. Boston’s only hit in the first four frames was a third-inning infield single by Ceddanne Rafaela.
But with two outs in the fifth, Rodón walked Rafaela, then served up the homer to Campbell — just inside the right-field foul pole — that knotted the score 2-2.
The Yankees retook the lead in the bottom of the fifth when DJ LeMahieu struck a solo home run into the right-field porch against Dobbins.
But Rodón plunked Rafael Devers to begin the sixth, then walked Rob Refsnyder before Narvaez’s 372-foot home run gave Boston a 5-3 lead. Narvaez spent nine seasons in the Yankees’ system — and made his MLB debut with them last year — before being traded to Boston in the offseason.
“Just falling behind, giving out free passes, and they did some damage,” Rodón said. “They took advantage of it. Falling behind hitters and giving out free bases is a no-go.”
That ended the night for Rodón (8-4), who took the loss after giving up five runs on five hits and three walks in 5+ innings. Rodón totaled only eight earned runs in his previous nine starts, a stretch in which he went 7-0 with a 1.27 ERA.
Dobbins (3-1) allowed three runs in five innings in his first-ever appearance against the Yankees.
The son of a diehard Red Sox fan, Dobbins added some juice to the rivalry when he told the Boston Herald before Sunday’s start, “If the Yankees were the last team to give me a contract, I’d retire.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. said he liked the “spiciness” that trash talk can bring to baseball, while Yankees manager Aaron Boone laughed off the 25-year-old Dobbins’ comments and said, “He’s young.”
Ultimately, though, the bats did the talking Sunday.
Boston’s Abraham Toro and Trevor Story hit back-to-back solo homers against Jonathan Loáisiga in the eighth, and Devers added another solo shot off Brent Headrick in the ninth.
Judge hit his second homer — another two-run bomb — against reliever Robert Stock in the bottom of the ninth. Judge now has 23 home runs.
It was the fourth multi-homer game of the season for Judge, who now has 43 in his career. That tied him with Lou Gehrig for the third-most multi-homer games in Yankees history.
“Any time you get mentioned with those legends, it’s quite an honor, but would have been sweeter to talk about it after a win,” Judge said.
After winning Friday night’s series opener, the Yankees lost back-to-back games against the Red Sox, who totaled 21 runs and 16 hits in the final two games.
The fourth-place Red Sox (32-35) now trail the division-leading Yankees (39-25) by 8.5 games in the American League East.
“These are always kind of heavy series, and fun to be a part of and go through,” Boone said. “But they had their hitting shoes on. … They beat us here this weekend. It’s part of it. We’ll kind of regroup into the off day here.”
The Yankees and Red Sox are set to meet again next weekend for a three-game series at Fenway Park.
Before then, the Yankees will travel to Kansas City for a three-game set against the Royals, which begins Tuesday night. Max Fried (8-1, 1.78 ERA) is slated to start the series opener for the Yankees, while rookie left-hander Noah Cameron (2-1, 0.85 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for Kansas City.
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