Yankees power past Rangers in Game 1 but spoil Gerrit Cole’s strikeouts in Game 2 for doubleheader split

NEW YORK — The New York Yankees started a doubleheader with a win for the second time this week, beating the Texas Rangers 8-0 on Saturday afternoon.

The Bombers’ batterymates were at the center of the action, as Carlos Rodón threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings while his catcher, Austin Wells, added four RBI.

Rodón created plenty of traffic for himself, walking five batters over 110 pitches, both season-highs. However, he limited Texas to three hits before exiting to a nice ovation at Yankee Stadium.

“Wellsy and I, I thought we worked well together and he kind of maneuvered the erratic-ness today from me,” Rodón said. “It worked out.”

Rodón also struck out six. One of those strikeouts, a backwards K against Wyatt Langford to end the third inning, resulted in some confusion, as Rodón began barking on his way off the mound. Aaron Boone and home plate umpire Adam Hamari initially thought Rodón was yelling at the official, but the pitcher was actually reacting to Langford.

While Rodón said the Rangers rookie didn’t do anything specific to set him off, Boone thought Langford tossing his bat, thinking he had walked, may have done the trick.

“I got a little mouthy,” Rodón said, though he tipped his cap toward Langford for two strong at-bats. “I got a little fiery with my emotion. I think I said, ‘Swing the bat next time’ or something. It’s nothing personal. It was just a reaction.

“Emotionally, I was a little out of whack.”

Nonetheless, Rodón did a solid job working around his feelings and command. After a rather rough stretch between mid-June and mid-July, he has been much more effective lately, allowing just six earned runs in his last four starts while striking out 31 batters over 24 1/3 innings.

The run of success coincides with the lefty diversifying his pitch mix and sequencing, something he was resistant to doing just a few weeks ago.

“I thought pitch mix was again good,” Boone said.

Meanwhile, Wells continued to thrive as the Yankees’ cleanup hitter, smoking a two-run double into the right-center gap in the third inning before adding a two-run single in the fourth.

“It’s good to see him doing this,” Boone said. “He’s now a big part of the middle of that lineup.”

Wells entered the game hitting .345/.420/.517 in 15 games since moving to the four-hole. He finished Saturday’s game 2 for 5.

“It’s worked out so far,” Wells said of hitting fourth. “For me, it doesn’t matter where in the lineup I’m hitting. My approach is going to be the exact same, so I just get to do it a little higher in the lineup.”

Added Rodón: “You’re seeing what the Yankees had seen in him with the bat. We all knew it was in there.”

Like Wells, Aaron Judge also stayed hot at the plate, picking up three hits for the ninth time this season. The biggest came in the fourth, as Judge lined an RBI double to left field.

The Yankees didn’t go deep until the eighth inning. That’s when Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit his 19th homer of the season and his sixth as a Yankee, a solo shot.

The Pinstripers’ first run came on a Gleyber Torres single in the first, and they scored another as Juan Soto grounded into a fielder’s choice in the fifth.

Ex-Yankee Nathan Eovaldi permitted three earned runs over three innings for Texas.

Yankees Spoil Cole’s Ks in Game 2 Loss

The Yankees received more strong starting pitching in Game 2, as Gerrit Cole held the Rangers to one earned run over 5 1/3 innings.

With a season-high 10 strikeouts, Cole now has 2,204 for his career. Saturday’s performance saw him pass Grover Cleveland Alexander, ex-Yankee David Wells and Adam Wainwright on the all-time list. Cole now ranks 66th all-time.

“I felt good today,” said Cole, who induced 26 whiffs with four different pitches. “We brought out a lot of good offerings today. I was able to get some swing and miss inside of the strike zone and limit some of the non-competitive pitches throughout the outing.”

However, the reigning Cy Young’s performance wasn’t enough in a 9-4 loss, as the Yankees spiraled after Boone cut Cole off at 90 pitches.

The skipper said that the ace was on a “pretty strict” pitch count due to his recent bout with fatigue and a stomach bug. With that in mind, Boone decided that Cole, whose season was delayed by elbow inflammation, would only face one batter in the sixth prior to the inning.

“As he’s kind of gone through this, just making sure we’re in a good spot with him,” Boone said. “Obviously, I thought he threw the ball outstanding again, so I feel we’re building some good steam here moving forward.

“We know how important he is to our staff and our rotation, so we want to be smart with it.”

While Boone operated with the big picture in mind, things took a turn for the worse in the sixth when Leody Taveras lined a ball off Luke Weaver, Cole’s replacement. Juan Soto laid out for the ball in right field, but he couldn’t come up with it.

The Yankees still had a shot at a force play at third, but Chisholm, new to the hot corner, went for a tag instead of just standing on the base for what should have been the inning’s second out.

“I thought they called it a catch,” Chisholm said, “so I was really looking for the double play right there.”

From there, a bases loaded walk to Carson Kelly and a Josh Smith sac fly brought two Rangers runs in. Corey Seager then crushed a three-run homer off Weaver.

“That was devastating, for sure,” said Weaver, who entered the game with a 2.81 ERA.

At that point, Boone pulled the righty from the game. As he made his way to the mound, the manager heard plenty of boos from a crowd wondering why Cole had been yanked. However, the starter didn’t second-guess the decision.

“Luke has been so good for us this year,” Cole said. “I mean, elite, and we all have our off days. But he’s always prepared. He’s always ready to go. So in that situation, you trust the bulk performance and you trust Luke in those situations. He’s a big part of our team and he’s helped us out a lot.”

Taveras added a two-run double in the seventh before Kelly knocked an RBI single. Both hits came against Michael Tonkin.

As for the Yankees’ offense, a Torres single in the second inning provided the team’s lone run off Cody Bradford. The Rangers southpaw also struck out seven over five frames.

The Yankees entered the day with the best wRC+ (119) and the third-most runs scored (594) in baseball. However, they were 15th in wRC+ (104) and 24th in runs scored (125) when facing lefties.

“I feel like we have the people to hopefully correct that a little bit,” Boone said, specifically naming Giancarlo Stanton. “Hopefully we can, in the next couple months, even that out a little bit.”

With the right-handed Gerson Garabito on the mound, Stanton drilled a two-run homer to Monument Park in the eighth inning. It was the slugger’s first dinger since coming off the injured list on July 29.

Chisholm then added his second solo homer of the day — and joined the 20-20 club for the first time — but the Yankees failed to mount a comeback.

“He’s dangerous,” Boone said of Chisholm, who became the first Yankee to hit seven homers in his first 12 games with the team. “He’s got such easy, effortless power. It’s surprising coming from that [body]. But he can miss-hit balls and still hit them out like the big guys.”

With a twin bill evenly divided, the Yankees and Rangers will play a rubber match on Sunday. Andrew Heaney, another ex-Yankee, will start for Texas.

Marcus Stroman will throw for the Yankees. The struggling righty had his start bumped from Thursday to Sunday so that he could work on his mechanics.

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