Just before throwing his first warmup pitch of the night on Monday, Carlos Rodón took a minute to take in his surroundings. A day earlier, the southpaw had talked about harnessing Yankee Stadium’s energy and controlling his sometimes-turbulent emotions. And so with the Bronx burning and Alice In Chains’ “Rooster” blasting over the loudspeakers prior to Game 2 of the ALDS, Rodón stopped to appreciate the packed house before going to work. He proceeded to snuff out the Royals, fanning Maikel Garcia, Bobby Witt Jr. and Vinnie Pasquantino in the opening inning as his fastball reached 98.3 mph. Suddenly, emotional control didn’t seem so important, as a screaming Rodón grew increasingly animated with each strike out. After retiring Pasquantino, Rodón strutted off the mound, stuck out his tongue and smiled his way to the dugout. “It’s a pretty cool experience to be able to pitch a playoff game in Yankee Stadium,” Rodón said of his impassioned inning. “They had had some great energy today, and all of us can feel it.” Carlos Rodón strikes out the side and he's fired up! pic.twitter.com/kJcqLhVeUH — Talkin' Yanks (@TalkinYanks) October 7, 2024 Unfortunately for Rodón and the Yankees, that display of power and fiery jubilation did not foreshadow an exceptional evening. While the hurler remained efficient for the first three innings of his Yankees postseason debut, he ultimately unraveled in the fourth frame of the Bombers’ 4-2 loss. “Just a tough inning where his command got away from him, especially in the secondary,” Aaron Boone said. “Because stuff-wise, he was excellent tonight, but then all of a sudden just a little scattered there.” As Boone alluded to, Rodón’s slider led to his demise. The Royals plated their first three runs by pouncing on the pitch in the fourth, starting with Salvador Perez crushing a solo shot to left minutes after a Giancarlo Stanton single put the Yankees on the board. Rodón hung his breaking ball over the heart of the plate on the dinger. He did the same when Tommy Pham rocketed an RBI single a few batters later. Garrett Hampson then connected with a slider below the zone, adding his own RBI single. That knocked Rodón out of the game after 3.2 innings. “I left some sliders not up in the zone, but hittable sliders that they made some good swings on,” Rodón said. “I should have been better with those pitches and buried those sliders. “It’s just unfortunate. I wanted to be better than that.” Garcia proceeded to coincidentally single off Ian Hamilton’s slider, earning the Royals — and Rodón — a fourth run. The starter also totaled seven hits, zero walks, seven strikeouts and 72 pitches as his night ended in disappointment. While Rodón could not maintain his first-inning success on Monday, Royals starter Cole Ragans held the Yankees to one run over four innings. He only allowed three hits, but four walks gave the pinstripers a few squandered opportunities. While Jazz Chisholm Jr. launched a solo homer in the ninth, the Yankees went 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position and stranded eight men during the game. When asked about the Yankees’ offensive struggles, Chisholm said the team hit into “a lot of unlucky plays.” He cited some diving stops and “great catches” from the Royals, though Stanton’s single came on a play Witt could have fielded. The only reason the Yankees scored was because the ball took a funky hop, skipped off the back-handing shortstop’s glove and rolled into the outfield, giving Gleyber Torres just enough time to race home. “I felt like we swung the bat well. It was just right at people,” Chisholm continued. “We still don’t feel like any team is better than us. We had a lot of missed opportunities tonight, so they just got lucky.” Aaron Judge missed a few opportunities of his own. While he went 1-for-3 with a walk, he left three on base after leaving four on in Game 1. He is now 1-for-7 this postseason. “If I’m not hitting 1.000, I’m not feeling good,” Judge said, repeating a go-to line of his. “I just gotta keep getting on base for the guys behind me. If they get on [in front of me], I gotta drive them in.” With the series now tied, the Yankees and Royals will head to Kansas City for Game 3 on Wednesday. The Yanks tabbed Clarke Schmidt to start the game, picking the consistent righty over Luis Gil. Seth Lugo will start Game 3 for Kansas City. The first-time All-Star dominated the Yankees on Sept. 10, striking out 10 over seven scoreless innings. “There’s more baseball to be played,” said Rodón, who could potentially start a decisive Game 5. “We’re just going to keep the energy and go out there and play our brand of baseball.”