The Yankees suffered their second consecutive loss on Wednesday, falling to Arizona, 4-3, on a chilly night in the Bronx.
The Diamondbacks sunk their fangs into Carlos Rodón’s velocity-lacking fastball early, most notably when Lourdes Gurriel Jr. crushed a two-run homer in the first inning. The second-deck shot put the Yankees in a quick hole.
The ditch only deepened in the second inning when Geraldo Perdomo produced a sac fly. Ketel Marte, who agreed to a six-year, $116 million extension before the game, then added an RBI single off Rodón’s heater, which only averaged 93 mph for the evening.
“I tend to look pretty often,” Rodón said of his frequent glances toward Yankee Stadium’s radar gun, “but definitely down velo today. A little cold, just slow to get moving, but I’m not super worried about it.”
Rodón also occasionally looked at his throwing hand and the mound as he struggled with his command throughout the night. However, the lefty settled in after the second inning — even after taking a 115.5-mph Marte line drive off his right forearm in the fifth — not allowing any additional runs.
Rodón, who retired the last 10 batters he faced, had a bruise and a wrap on his arm postgame, but he said that an X-ray came back clean.
The veteran, making use of five different pitches for the second straight start after a dominant Opening Day outing, totaled three hits, four earned runs, four walks and five strikeouts over six innings. Rodón also threw 96 pitches.
“I think he just got pissed off,” catcher Austin Wells said of Rodón’s in-game turnaround.
Carlos Rodon has set down each of the last 10 hitters he’s faced pic.twitter.com/eRS8jEaJEA
— Fireside Yankees (@FiresideYankees) April 3, 2025
Meanwhile, Arizona starter Zac Gallen looked crisp from the get-go against the Yankees’ partially-torpedoed lineup.
The Somerdale, New Jersey native spun the ball beautifully over 6.2 scoreless innings, tying a career-high with 13 strikeouts. Gallen also held the Yankees to three hits and didn’t issue a walk over 101 pitches.
“That’s about as well-pitched a game as you’ll see,” Aaron Boone said. “He just felt dialed in to me.”
Gallen’s knuckle-curve did the Yankees especially dirty, as the righty’s breaking ball induced 13 whiffs on 30 pitches. Gallen tallied 24 whiffs overall as the Yankees swung at 36% of the pitches that he threw outside of the strike zone.
“We want to see him again,” Anthony Volpe said. “And surely if we do, we could have a little bit better plan, better approach, and just be more aggressive. But he was executing, and when you got a pitcher like that doing that, then it’s gonna be tough.”
Zac Gallen’s 13 Strikeouts. #torpedoed pic.twitter.com/3ZoDA0p4Xc
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) April 3, 2025
The Yankees struck out a few more times after Gallen’s departure, logging 16 in the game. It’s been a breezy series for the Bombers, as they struck out another 14 times in Tuesday’s loss.
Still, the Yankees managed to make things interesting in the ninth inning, as Volpe smacked a three-run homer off Arizona lefty A.J. Puk to cut the deficit to one. Volpe now has four hits this season; each one has been a dinger.
“I’m just trying to put the ball in play hard,” Volpe said. “They’re just going over the fence. I’m not trying for them, which is nice, and just trying to help the team out.”
Volpe’s efforts weren’t enough, though, as the Yankees failed to complete the comeback after Wells popped up and Jasson Domínguez recorded one last strikeout from the right side of the plate.
With their first series loss of the season in the books, the Yankees will try for a win on Thursday before embarking on their first road trip, which will take them to Pittsburgh and Detroit.
Carlos Carrasco is scheduled to make his first start in pinstripes on Thursday after winning a spot in the Yankees’ injured rotation as a non-roster invitee this spring. The veteran right-hander allowed three earned runs over two innings in relief on March 29.
Merrill Kelly will start the series finale for the D-backs as they look to slither out of New York with a three-game sweep.
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