'Buckle up': Rodón confident despite spoiled debut

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Carlos Rodón sat on the bench of the visiting dugout in the third inning on Sunday afternoon, a thousand-yard gaze hardly registering the next pitcher’s warmups on the mound. He reminded himself that the game didn’t count, but the barrage had come fast and furious, the top five hitters in a strong Braves lineup all rounding or reaching the bases.

“I don’t like losing,” Rodón said. “I tried to tell myself that I paced myself and made some pitches, and then I got humbled a little bit. So I kind of needed that. I got the work in that I needed, so it’s one of those things where I’ll just look forward to the next one. Hopefully I can put together results plus execution and be better than that.”

Before Jasson Domínguez’s go-ahead three-run homer highlighted an eight-run ninth inning, Rodón remained on the hook for a loss in his Yankees spring debut, a 10-6 victory at CoolToday Park. It was hardly the envisioned first impression for the 30-year-old right-hander, who was the club’s second-largest acquisition of the winter, behind the $360 million pact for captain Aaron Judge.

“Fortunately, this game doesn’t count, so that’s good,” Rodón said. “But I won’t be talking like this when it’s April 1. Trust me.”

Rodón’s fastball was clocked between 91-95 mph on Sunday, and he said that he was too excited to find an effective pace in the first inning. Ronald Acuña Jr. reached on an infield single and stole second base before Matt Olson blasted a two-run homer that landed on the concourse beyond the right-field wall.

After recording a pair of outs, Rodón hit Michael Harris II with a pitch, then saw Harris steal second base before escaping the inning by catching Vaughn Grissom looking at a called third strike. Between innings, manager Aaron Boone approached Rodón to tell him not to throw with more velocity than he was ready for.

“The thing I don’t want him to do is start reaching because he’s supposed to throw 96, 97, 98 [mph],” Boone said. “This is in line with where he is every spring. I don’t want him to feel like he’s got to impress us on March 5 and overdo it, then get in a bad spot mechanically. My message to him is, 'Stay in your mechanics and execute.' He’ll get to that spot.”

Rodón retired the bottom third of the order in a crisp second inning, then was unable to retire a batter in the third. Acuña doubled, and Rodón said that he was tempted to “reach back and throw harder” to the next hitter. Boone’s cautionary words rang in his mind.

“The younger me would have said, ‘[Forget] that, I’m going to throw one as hard as I can here,’” Rodón said. “I’m glad I didn’t do that.”

Olson ripped a sharp run-scoring single up the middle and Austin Riley belted a two-run homer to the visiting bullpen in left-center field. Travis d’Arnaud singled and Harris walked before Boone popped out of the third-base dugout, pointing his right index finger to summon reliever Albert Abreu.

“He’s not in midseason form, but you could see flashes of it,” catcher Kyle Higashioka said. “The important thing for him is that he doesn’t try to do too much early. We’re not trying to win the Grapefruit League. We’re looking to win the World Series.”

The Yanks attempted to obtain Rodón at the Trade Deadline last July, but were rebuffed by the Giants; instead, New York inked the southpaw to a six-year, $162 million deal in December.

Rodón, an All-Star in each of the past two seasons, was 14-8 with a 2.88 ERA in 31 starts for San Francisco last year. Rodón posted career highs in wins, innings (178), strikeouts (237), double-digit strikeout games (11) and starts. He is expected to slot behind ace Gerrit Cole as the Yankees’ No. 2 starter.

Because Nestor Cortes is being brought along carefully following a right hamstring strain, Boone said the Yanks’ season-opening rotation against the Giants projects to be Cole, Rodón and Luis Severino, followed by the winner of the competition between Domingo Germán and Clarke Schmidt, then Cortes in the No. 5 slot.

“Me and my teammates, we’re the ones driving the car,” Rodón said. “Everybody, just sit back and buckle up. That’s kind of what I’d say.”