Yanks' bats can't back Rodón's best start in pinstripes

NEW YORK -- One after another, the Yankees made hard right turns back to their dugout on Monday, many grumbling about how difficult it was to pick up the spin on pitches. Their uphill climb wouldn’t get any easier in the ninth inning, with the top of the order challenged by Mason Miller’s triple-digit velocity.

The high-octane closer struck out Anthony Volpe, Juan Soto and Aaron Judge in order, a frustrating conclusion to an afternoon in which offense once again proved difficult to generate. Held to three hits, the Yankees wasted a strong Carlos Rodón effort in a 2-0 loss to the Athletics at Yankee Stadium.

“It’s just part of the game,” said Soto, who went hitless in four at-bats. “We’ve just got to keep grinding, keep coming every day. We’re going to have ups and downs throughout the whole year. We just had a tough game. Forget about it and come back tomorrow.”

Miller dispatched the Bombers impressively, striking out Volpe with a 102.5 mph fastball, Soto at 103.3 mph and Judge at 102.5 mph. But the Yanks had nearly as much trouble squaring up starter JP Sears, leading to their fourth shutout loss of the young season.

Sears struck out seven over six scoreless innings, prompting Soto to remark that “all the guys were complaining that they couldn’t see the ball well today” off the left-hander. Soto described Sears’ pitches as “just a white thing coming at you.”

Zack Gelof hit a tiebreaking two-run homer in the ninth off Victor González, representing the game’s only runs. The decision snapped Oakland’s eight-game losing streak in the Bronx, dating to June 18, 2022.

“We’ve got to mount more than that, and that’s taking nothing away from Sears,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He looked really good against us, and then their back end is real. They have a few guys down there. Winning the games they’ve won, they’ve been able to close out some games because they’ve got a pretty dynamic back end there.

“We’ve just got to find a way to do a little bit more offensively.”

Most of the events took place out of firsthand view for Boone, who was ejected five pitches into the game by home-plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt. Television replays appeared to indicate that a fan, not Boone, had made the offending remark that prompted Boone’s second ejection of the season.

Too bad, because Rodón turned in his first scoreless effort as a Yankee, holding Oakland hitless until Nick Allen’s fifth-inning single. That would be the only knock Rodón permitted in a 92-pitch effort (57 for strikes), during which he walked two and struck out four.

“It was overall a good day for pitching,” Rodón said. “A tough loss. Their guys were good. You saw those last two bullpen guys come in [also Lucas Erceg], those guys were impressive. Hitting is not easy, that’s for sure.”

A series with the Athletics seemed to be an opportunity for the Yankees’ bats to bust out, considering they hit 13 homers and outscored Oakland 50-16 in six meetings last season.

But many of New York’s stars are slumping: Judge, Anthony Rizzo and Gleyber Torres had 13 combined home runs at this point last season, and they have managed just four thus far.

“It’s a grind,” said Rizzo, who went 0-for-3 and is batting .227. “I’m just going to take it one day at a time. I’m seeing the ball well. I’ve just got to put better swings on the ball.”

Judge in particular has had extended difficulty making pitchers pay for mistakes; the captain went hitless in four at-bats on Monday and is 3-for-28 (.107) with no extra-base hits and 16 strikeouts in his past seven games.

“We all know how great he is,” Soto said. “Even when he’s struggling and I’m hitting well, they’re going to keep pitching to me because they don’t want to face him. At the end of the day, we all trust him. He’s a great hitter.

“When you see him out there, he’s grinding every day. He’s trying to find his timing and his swing. He’s going to get it one day, so I’m not worried about him at all.”