Yariel's outing impresses; competitive fire impresses more

NEW YORK -- By the time the Blue Jays' 4-3 loss in the series finale at Yankee Stadium ended on Sunday -- after a 10th-inning walk-off hit by DJ LeMahieu through a five-man infield, after three more intentional walks to Aaron Judge and after a nearly two-hour thunderstorm delay in the middle of the eighth -- Yariel Rodríguez had been off the mound for hours.

But the start he'd delivered was an important performance for Toronto: Rodríguez pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings against a dangerous lineup, and he outpitched Yankees ace Gerrit Cole while he was out there.

He also showed the Blue Jays his competitive fire. Rodríguez was visibly frustrated, on the mound and in the dugout, when manager John Schneider came out to get him with one out left in the fifth, and Juan Soto and Aaron Judge coming up the third time through the order.

"Obviously, as the competitor that I am, I wanted to continue in that inning -- I wanted to face Soto one more time," Rodríguez said through interpreter Hector LeBron.

"I'm very competitive. In the heat of the moment, I wanted to continue. But it's all right. That was at that moment, but I'm OK with that now."

And to Schneider, that emotion is a good thing.

"I love it," Schneider said.

"Every pitcher is upset when I take him out. It's 4 2/3, you're in line for a win -- I totally get it."

It's what the Blue Jays’ skipper wants to see out of a starting pitcher pitching for a win, and hungry to face the other team's top hitters to get there. Schneider said it showed a lot about Rodríguez's determination to become a reliable member of Toronto's starting rotation.

"If it was low-stress innings, you probably let him roll there, and at least give him Soto," Schneider said. "But he had to work. He had to work. Made really big pitches."

Rodríguez rebounded from his rocky start in Baltimore last Monday, when he lasted just two-thirds of an inning after issuing four walks and hitting James McCann in the face with a pitch. He credited stronger focus in this game as the difference.

"I love his competitiveness every single time out," Schneider said. "And I think last outing in Baltimore, that's just kind of a blip. That happens to everybody."

Rodríguez collected four strikeouts -- including K's of both Judge and Soto. He got Judge to wave at a nasty slider below the zone in the first, and Soto on a front-door splitter that had him bailing out of the batter's box in the third.

Actually, Rodríguez was the only Blue Jays pitcher to get Soto and Judge out all day. Against the Toronto bullpen, Soto walked, hit a go-ahead homer and doubled. Judge was intentionally walked all three times he faced a reliever -- marking four in the last two games of the series -- the Blue Jays' new strategy being to take the bat out of the hands of the most dangerous hitter on the planet.

"So far, so good," Schneider said. "Again, it's nothing against my pitchers. And nothing against anyone else in their lineup. It's singularly focused around how talented Aaron is, and the numbers that he's put up, basically at a historic pace. The less times he can swing, the better. I think we're facing a guy who's that good. If we played them again, I would do the same thing again."

But back to Rodríguez. Rodríguez's starts down the stretch for the Blue Jays will be significant, as he'll be relied on to fortify the back end of the rotation next season as Toronto enters 2025 without Yusei Kikuchi (traded to the Astros), Alek Manoah (right UCL reconstruction) and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann (Tommy John surgery).

And this is all Toronto's plan for the 27-year-old rookie, who didn't pitch professionally at all in 2023 after spending the previous three seasons in Japan, only making an appearance for Cuba in the World Baseball Classic before the Blue Jays signed him.

The Blue Jays are still building Rodríguez up. So if he can give them 4 2/3 scoreless innings on 76 pitches (51 strikes) against the Yankees, that's a win, even if he didn't qualify for one.

"As you understand, I didn't pitch at all last year," Rodríguez said. "So since the beginning, since Spring Training, we've talked about it. We've had this plan.

"Of course I want to continue to pitch. But I know the plan that we talked about, that we had, and I understand everything."