Carlos Rodon tosses seven strong innings in Yankees’ 4-2 win over Royals

The Yankees scored in the first inning and led the entire game, beating the Kansas City Royals, 4-2, on Monday night.

– In his first at-bat back after a three-game absence, Juan Soto singled up the middle against Royals starter Seth Lugo. He then advanced to second on Gleyber Torres’ single and came around to score on Alex Verdugo’s single to left, giving the Yanks an early 1-0 lead. DJ LeMahieu dropped down a perfect sacrifice-squeeze bunt for Torres to score and go up 2-0.

– Carlos Rodon cruised through the first three innings without allowing a hit. Rodon did get some help from right fielder Jahmai Jones, who kept the Royals with a catch up against the wall to end the third inning. The lefty needed just six pitches to get through the KC order in the fourth, thanks to a flyout and two groundouts.

– Jose Trevino made it a 4-0 game with his second hit of the night in the fourth inning, this time a two-out single to center, driving in LeMahieu and Trent Grisham. New York got close to adding more in the frame, but Anthony Volpe flied out to right with runners on the corners to end the scoring chance.

– Rodon’s no-no was broken up in the top of the fifth, as he allowed a leadoff single to Nelson Velazquez and an infield single to Nick Loftin. He then worked around some trouble, getting a double play and a flyout to end the inning.

He let up two singles in the bottom of the seventh and had Freddy Fermin down to his last strike with two outs, but let up a single to center, as the Royals got on the board to make it a 4-1 game. After a mound visit, Rodon got MJ Melendez to ground out to second to stop the damage. He finished after seven strong innings, allowing the one run on five hits with three strikeouts over 103 pitches.

– Ian Hamilton came in to pitch the eighth inning and let up a two-out, RBI-double to Bobby Whit Jr. to make it a 4-2 game. The reliver struck out Salvador Perez to keep the lead intact. Michael Tonkin replaced Hamilton in the ninth and got his first save on the year after 17 pitches.

The lefty improved to 9-2 on the season and lowered his ERA to 2.93. Since allowing six runs on May 2 in a loss to the Baltimore Orioles, Rodon has gone 7-0 and pitched to a 2.28 ERA and 0.85 WHIP.

The Yankees continue a four-game series against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday at 8:10 p.m.

Marcus Stroman (5-2, 3.04 ERA) will get the start for NY and go up against RHP Brady Singer (4-2, 2.76 ERA) for KC.