BRONX, NY — 44 wins. 19 losses. 25 games over .500, as we enter Thursday, June 6th, 2024, a season high for the Yankees.
Carried by their pinstripe duo of superstars in Juan Soto, and Aaron Judge, who each came into Wednesday night with an OPS of over .1000, the 2024 New York Yankees have displayed a ‘winning moxy’ day-in and day-out this season. The overall team record paired with individual statistics does not do its justice, but what does, is their energetic style of play on the diamond, as a competitive camaraderie. It consistently shows through their grinding of at bats, execution on the mound, and flashing of the leather.
Aaron Judge slides into home plate safely on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
On Wednesday evening at the stadium in front of a crowd of 43,202, all three of those aspects stated above came into play against the Minnesota Twins. The result? An all around Yankee win, as New York defeated Minnesota by a final of 9-5.
At The Plate: Anthony Volpe went 3-5 with a triple and two runs scored, his third game this season with three or more hits, and extended his on base streak to 31 games — becoming just the second Yankee age 23-or-younger since 1940 to reach the mark, joining Mickey Mantle.
“I don’t think that there’s any 23-year-old that’s reached his full peak or potential so I’m just working to improve on every aspect and keep trying to help the team win,” Volpe said in the postgame.
Yankees lead off hitter Anthony Volpe started Wednesday night’s game on offense with a single to right field – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Aaron Judge, who has also reached base in 31 straight games, recorded five RBI on a walk, a groundout, and a base-clearing triple, his fifth triple in his career.
On The Mound: Carlos Rodón, recipient of the 2021 American League LatinoMVP Starting Pitcher award, flirted with perfection for 5.1 innings, and ultimately, finished with six frames of work on three hits, two earned runs allowed, and nine strikeouts (a new season high in K). The 31-year-old Rodón, who had a rough first year in New York due to injury and poor performances, took this offseason to new heights in training while working towards being his peak-self on the mound, and the results are showing.
“The attitude that I had leaving the season — it made me hungrier going into the offseason,” said Rodón following his eighth win of the year (8-2 in 2024 with a 3.08 ERA — 3-8 record in 2023 with a 6.85 ERA). “All I want to do is win and I want to perform well for my teammates. I don’t want to let my teammates down.”
Carlos Rodón had a perfect game bid end at the 5.1 inning mark on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
What comes to mind as a manager about Rodón, Boone stated: “Just perseverance, we want to write a script on somebody so often — sports is about overcoming things sometimes. Especially in a major league sport, it’s not easy. You’re not on top of it, you can go through times in your career where you get your lunch handed to you. But that doesn’t have to be the end of the story, especially when you have the ability like Carlos does.”
“And to his credit, last year did not go well by any stretch, but he got to work to make sure he put himself in a great position to give himself a chance to have success… he is in a position now, because of the work he put in, to go out and be successful.”
Flashing The Leather: In the top of the second inning, as Minnesota’s Byron Buxton ripped a shot to deep left field, Alex Verdugo had the crowd and Rodón in awe, completing a miraculous catch for the third out, while crashing into the wall. With that much momentum and force, the Mexican-American Verdugo, went all out and fortunately enough, avoided any injury. He took a moment to catch his breath, and followed it up by proceeding back to the dugout with Judge.
Alex Verdugo makes incredible catch at the wall on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Alex Verdugo shows his glove to the umpire, indicating he made the catch – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
“I was just hoping he didn’t run through the wall,” said Rodón on Verdugo’s catch. “I was like ‘please, please don’t run into the wall too hard.’ It looked like the brim of his hat hit the wall, and he made the catch. I was just like ‘how the hell did you catch that!’
“I was thinking if someone has a chance, it’s Dugie,” Boone added.
Then, fast forward to the top of the fourth inning, and you have Soto securing a Manuel Margot pop-up on the right-field foul line wall that was heading right towards the fans. The Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic native Soto, who won the 2021 National League LatinoMVP award, casually stuck his glove up and in a brief second, made the web-gem play (even though he made contact with the fan).
Juan Soto makes leaping catch at the right field foul line wall on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Juan Soto throws ball to second baseman Gleyber Torres following his catch at the right field foul line wall on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium – Image Credit: Bill Menzel/Latino Sports
Rodón on Soto’s efforts at the right field line: “I thought it was in the stands clearly, I threw the pitch and turned around… then Juan goes, climbs the wall, and makes the catch. Another great play.”
Robert Rizzo is a journalist and editor of Latino Sports – Email: RobertRiz994@gmail.com
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