Carlos Rodon, Yankees roll over wild Guardians in Game 1

NEW YORK — Carlos Rodon was a beacon of serenity, calmly walking around and off the mound after each of his nine strikeouts.

About the only semblance of emotion Rodon displayed was lifting his glove to applaud and acknowledge Aaron Judge for running down Jose Ramirez’s fly ball to the gap in left-center field to end the sixth inning with the New York Yankees holding a three-run lead.

A week after getting too amped up early and eventually faltering, Rodon displayed a more stoic version of himself and pitched six solid innings to help the New York Yankees open the American League Championship Series with a 5-2 victory over the Cleveland Guardians on Monday night.

“The goal was to just stay in control, stay in control of what I can do, obviously physically and emotionally,” Rodon said. “I thought I executed that well tonight.”

Rodon entered with an 11.37 career postseason ERA after starting strong and fading in the fourth inning in Game 2 of the AL Division Series against Kansas City. After each of his seven strikeouts in that game, he wildly stalked the mound and let out loud yells while pumping his fist, something the Royals poked fun at after they tagged him for four runs.

He viewed ace Gerrit Cole display a “poker face” during seven strong innings in New York’s ALDS clincher on Thursday and hoped to replicate the former Cy Young Award winner’s demeanor.

“I watched Gerrit throw that Game 4 in Kansas City, and mentally I was taking notes on how he was going out there and going about it, and I just wanted to kind of go about it the same way,” Rodon said. “I thought I did well with that tonight.

The left-hander allowed only Brayan Rocchio’s homer to start the sixth among three hits. He struck out nine — the most by a Yankee in the postseason since Cole also fanned nine in Game 5 of the Division Series against Tampa Bay in 2020.

Rodon got 25 swings and misses and retired 11 straight after allowing a one-out single to rookie Jhonkensy Noel in the second until Rocchio homered.

“He was just definitely amped up (last week),” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I think that potentially led to some fatigue or whatever, missing some spots there in that last inning. I thought he held his stuff really well. You just watched him out there with intensity, but a lot of poise, and that’s what stood out.”

Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton homered for the Yankees, who capitalized on four wild pitches by Guardians rookie Joey Cantillo, two of them scoring runs.

“I can’t say I saw him before the game,” Stanton said of Rodon. “I was in my own focus. But regardless of his pregame, he showed how prepared and focused he was, so that’s all that matters.”

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is set for Tuesday at Yankee Stadium.

Soto reached base three times and opened the scoring by driving a 2-1 sinker from Cleveland starter Alex Cobb (0-1) into the New York bullpen beyond the center field fence to start a three-run third. It was Soto’s eighth career postseason homer and third in LCS play.

After Soto’s blast, the Yankees loaded the bases with two outs before Cantillo replaced Cobb.

On the third pitch to Anthony Rizzo, Cantillo threw a wild pitch that bounced in the air and Judge scored New York’s second run when the left-hander was slow to cover the plate. After Rizzo walked, Stanton scored standing up to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead when Cantillo threw a wild pitch that bounced to the backstop during Alex Verdugo’s at-bat.

The Yankees made it 4-0 in the fourth when Gleyber Torres scored on a sacrifice fly by Judge after drawing a walk and advancing to second and third on wild pitches by Cantillo.

Rocchio opened the sixth by homering into the left field seats off a 2-2 Rodon fastball.

Stanton increased New York’s lead to 5-1 with a homer off Erik Sabrowski that bounced off an advertisement in the Cleveland bullpen beyond the left field fence in the seventh. It was Stanton’s 13th career postseason homer.

Cobb was charged with three runs on five hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out three, walked three and exited after issuing a free pass to Anthony Volpe to load the bases.

After the game, Cleveland manager Stephen Vogt said Cobb’s left hip was tight and that the left-hander also was experiencing back spasms.

Cantillo joined Rick Ankiel as the second pitcher with at least four wild pitches in a postseason game. Ankiel had five for the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 1 of the 2000 NLDS against the Atlanta Braves.

“Joey has done a good job for us coming out of the bullpen, and that inning just kind of got away from us, and that was it,” Vogt said.

New York’s Clay Holmes pitched a 1-2-3 seventh but Tim Hill allowed an RBI single to Steven Kwan in the eighth after Hill was charged with interference on Rocchio’s base hit.

Luke Weaver got the final five outs — striking out four — for his fourth save of the postseason.