Carlos Rodon comes undone in frustrating Yankees loss to Tigers

DETROIT – On a day when it was 38 degrees at first pitch with wind chills in the 20s and snow falling early, Carlos Rodón took the mound in short sleeves.

The cold was not his biggest foe on Monday, though, nor were the Tigers or the home plate umpire or the defense behind him, so much as it was the left-hander himself.

Rodón was cruising until he invited trouble upon himself in the third inning by walking Detroit’s No. 8 and 9 hitters.

He was upset by the strike zone on the second walk, and while he may have had a case, he could not overcome it.

Two batters later, Rodón gave up a three-run homer that was enough to sink the Yankees on the way to a 6-2 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.

Right-hander Casey Mize, meanwhile, and the Tigers bullpen combined to shut down the Yankees offense.

Rodón retired the first seven batters he faced before walking light-hitting catcher Jake Rogers with one out in the third inning.

Then he got into another full count against No. 9 hitter Ryan Kreidler and threw a slider that appeared to clip the bottom of the strike zone.

Home plate umpire Bruce Dreckman did not agree, calling it ball four as Rodón got frustrated on the mound, appearing to yell, “That’s bad!”

Rodón struck out the next batter, but then threw a 1-0 changeup to Andy Ibáñez, who drilled it to left field for a three-run shot and the 3-0 lead.

The Yankees got one run back in the top of the fifth when Trent Grisham, arguably their hottest hitter, singled and eventually came around to score on Aaron Judge’s RBI single off Mize.

But the Tigers extended their lead in the bottom of the inning, which began with a fielding error by Oswaldo Cabrera at third base. Rodón followed by walking Rogers again before both runners moved up on a sacrifice bunt.

Justyn-Henry Malloy came up next and hit a single to center field that scored both runs for the 5-1 lead.

Rodón started the seventh inning at 96 pitches, on a day when the Yankees were short in the bullpen, and gave up a leadoff single that eventually came around to score once he was out of the game to make it 6-1.

While Rodón struck out eight, his three walks all burned him, accounting for three of the six runs (five earned) he gave up.

The Yankees, who scraped across another run in the eighth inning on fielding and throwing errors by the Tigers, also hurt themselves offensively.

It was still a scoreless game in the top of the third inning when Ben Rice tripled to the gap, only to get picked off of third base by Rogers with Judge at the plate and one out.