NEW YORK — Carlos Rodón ended his 2023 season with perhaps the single worst start in baseball history. On Tuesday, that nightmarish outing felt like a distant memory.
Against the lowly Royals back on Sept. 29, the Yankees starter allowed eight earned runs without recording a single out, only the third such instance in MLB history. The horror show reached a boiling point when, during a mound visit, Rodón turned his back on Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake. It was an appropriately disastrous conclusion to Rodón’s tumultuous first season in pinstripes. After inking a six-year, $162 million contract in December 2022, he finished his maiden voyage in the Bronx with a 6.