Yankees strike out 16 times in loss to Diamondbacks

The weather was admittedly miserable Wednesday night in the Bronx, though the extra breeze coming from home plate came courtesy of the Yankees.

After a charmed start to the season, the Yankees could count on neither their starting pitching nor their torpedo bats to save them against the Diamondbacks, dropping the second game of the series, 4-3, and striking out 16 times along the way. They trailed by four in the ninth but the offensive inefficiency of the previous eight innings was too much to overcome as Jasson Dominguez ended the night in thematically appropriate fashion, swinging through a 1-and-2 slider for the final out.

Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge led off the ninth with back-to-back singles off Ryan Thompson to signal lefty A.J. Puk from the bullpen. One batter later, Anthony Volpe slammed a dead-red, first-pitch fastball to the first row past the short porch in right to get the Yankees to within 4-3 and bring up Dominguez.

They’ll look to avoid their first sweep of the year in the finale Thursday.

Though he eventually settled down, Carlos Rodon, showcasing his expanded pitch mix, struggled with his command and the Diamondbacks, who scored the most runs in baseball last year, made him pay. Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen, meanwhile, had no such issues, tying a career high with 13 strikeouts and at one point retiring 11 straight Yankees — a streak that was snapped only because a dropped third strike allowed Oswaldo Cabrera to reach in the sixth.

In two games against the Diamondbacks, the Yankees have struck out a combined 30 times.

The Diamondbacks lineup wasted no time getting to Rodon on a cold, bitter evening: Ketel Marte, fresh off what reports Wednesday afternoon called a six-year, $116.5 million extension, led off the game with a walk. One batter later, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. turned on an 0-and-2 fastball near his shoulders, slamming it 399 feet to left for the 2-0 lead.

They tacked on two more in the second, when Rodon again opened up the inning with a walk — this time to Eugenio Suarez, who eventually came around to score on Geraldo Perdomo’s sacrifice fly. With two outs and Gabriel Moreno on second, Marte drove a seeing-eye grounder up the middle to make it 4-0.

That was plenty for Gallen, who absolutely stymied an overmatched Yankees lineup behind the heft of a devastating knuckle-curve that was responsible for 11 of his 13 third-strike pitches. Of the 29 knuckle curves he threw, only 29% were in the strike zone; the Yankees swung at 67% of those pitches outside of the zone and made contact with none of them. In fact, of the 42 swings the Yankees had against Gallen, they whiffed on 24.

Gallen tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings with three hits and no walks.

In a repeat of his (more successful) Opening Day start, Rodon, who spent much of his career primarily as a fastball-slider pitcher, threw six different pitches, including a good-looking changeup. The only problem was that he couldn’t find the strike zone with too many of them: He allowed the four runs on three hits with four walks and five strikeouts. He threw 96 pitches, 56 for strikes, though he did end the game on a strong note, retiring 10 straight before being lifted for Yoendrys Gomez in the seventh. Rodon’s velocity also took a hit. His fastball and slider averaged about 2 mph slower than usual.

Before the game, Aaron Boone said the expanded repertoire is part of Rodon’s evolution, and while Wednesday’s performance was less than ideal, it still showed signs of what this new look could mean for the lefthander’s season.

“The fastball, slider continues to be bread and butter pitches for him,” Boone said. “I felt his first game, the slider was outstanding, but the changeup has become very real for him. Really, as the season unfolded last year, I thought it became a really good pitch for him, and then being able to slow you down with the breaking ball, too.

“He’s definitely gone through a lot of things here in a few years but through it all, I feel, continues to evolve and just become a better pitcher and competitor.”

There were signs of that in his final three innings, where he collected three of his five strikeouts.

“He’s got a full arsenal,” Boone said. “I think that’s shown up in breakdowns in what he throws typically on a different way and has different ways to beat you.”