The unit that was the backbone of the Yankees’ early-season dominance is beginning to emerge once again.
Carlos Rodon followed the lead of Gerrit Cole and Nestor Cortes and made it a third straight Yankees starter to toss a scoreless outing Friday night.
When Aaron Judge is doing Aaron Judge things, it is a highly successful combination.
Rodon tossed six shutout innings and Judge drilled his 49th home run of the season on the way to the Yankees’ third straight win, 3-0 over the Rockies in The Bronx.
Yankees starters have now thrown 19 straight scoreless innings, blanking opponents in four of their last five starts and five of their last seven.
In the process, the Yankees (76-53) were on the verge of moving to 2 ¹/₂ games ahead of the Orioles (pending the result of their game against the Astros) atop the AL East, the biggest lead they have held since June 18.
As ridiculous of a season as Judge is putting together — he is now on pace for 62 home runs, which is the AL record he set in 2022 — not even the MVP favorite alone could snap the Yankees out of their summer funk, for which the rotation was largely responsible.
The Yankees’ rotation had an MLB-low 2.77 ERA through June 14, at which point the team was an MLB-best 50-22.
From June 15-Aug. 9, a span in which the Yankees went 18-26, their rotation had the majors’ highest ERA at 6.26.
In 13 games since, though, Yankees starters have rediscovered their early-season form, with their 1.95 ERA good for the best in baseball.
The opposing lineups have not exactly been daunting, but Yankees starters have now held them to two or fewer runs in 10 of their last 13 starts.
Rodon continued that strong run Friday by holding the Rockies (47-82) to four hits and one walk while striking out five.
He rebounded from a tough last start — on Saturday in Detroit, when he needed 90 pitches to record just 10 outs while giving up four runs — by allowing just one Rockies hitter to touch third base all night.
Judge, meanwhile, continued his march toward another historic season.
He crushed his fifth home run in the last four games, this one a solo shot in the sixth inning off Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland.
Giancarlo Stanton got the scoring started in the fourth inning when he ripped his second home run in as many days, a solo shot to the opposite field for the 1-0 lead.
The Yankees then made it 2-0 in the fifth inning when Anthony Volpe singled and eventually came in two score on a two-out fielding error by third baseman Ryan McMahon.
In relief of Rodon, the Yankees got scoreless innings of work from Luke Weaver, Jake Cousins and Clay Holmes, who worked around a leadoff walk to record his first save since blowing his 10th save on Sunday in the Little League Classic.
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