He was not exactly facing Murderers’ Row, but the opponent has often not mattered for Carlos Rodon as a Yankee.
Tuesday, it was the Marlins in front of him, and Rodon mowed them down for one of his best starts in pinstripes.
Rodon took a shutout into the seventh inning before running into some trouble (only part of which was his own doing), but it was enough to send the Yankees to a 3-2 win over the Marlins in The Bronx.
The Yankees are now off to a 10-2 start, matching their best in franchise history through 12 games after also doing it in 1922, 1949 and 2003.
Building off Nestor Cortes’ eight shutout innings against the Marlins on Monday night, Rodon completed six scoreless innings for the first time as a Yankee (in his 17th start with the team).
And though he couldn’t finish on a high note, he still walked off the mound to a standing ovation, with both runs that were eventually charged to him being unearned.
The left-hander walked the first batter he faced on the night then did not issue another free pass until a full-count walk to Josh Bell to lead off the seventh.
Jazz Chisholm then reached on a fielding error by first baseman Anthony Rizzo before Tim Anderson hit an infield single to a sliding Jon Berti at third to load the bases.
Aaron Boone pulled Rodon for Ian Hamilton, who got a groundout and a flyout (sacrifice fly) to let the Marlins pull within 3-2.
But Hamilton stranded the tying run at second base then tossed a scoreless eighth.
Clay Holmes finished it off with a quick 1-2-3 ninth.
Alex Verdugo delivered a 1-0 lead in the second inning when he visited the short porch for the first time as a Yankee.
The left fielder got a sweeper from A.J. Puk over the heart of the plate and delivered a big hack, nearly going down to his knee to lift it out into the right-field seats.
The Yankees doubled their lead in the fifth.
Juan Soto reached on a two-base error and Aaron Judge walked before Giancarlo Stanton shot a double the other way to make it 2-0.
The Yankees threatened for more with two outs, when Anthony Volpe battled for a 10-pitch at-bat, but it ended in a flyout to right field.
Soto added another insurance run in the sixth — it proved to be the winning run — on an RBI single up the middle that scored Berti, the former Marlin, to make it 3-0.
