Carlos Rodón controls his emotions and Guardians’ bats, gets first career postseason win

NEW YORK (AP) — Carlos Rodón controlled his emotions — and the Cleveland Guardians’ bats.

In a reversal from his amped-up outing in the Division Series last week, Rodón dominated for six innings while helping the New York Yankees to a 5-2 victory in Monday night’s AL Championship Series opener for his first career postseason win.

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

Rodón lost Game 2 of the Division Series to Kansas City when he admittedly overthrew. His fastball was 1.6 mph above his season average and after striking out his first three batters and allowing just two hits through three innings, he gave up a leadoff home run to Salvador Perez that sparked a four-run fourth in a 4-2 defeat.

That dropped Rodón to 0-2 with an 11.37 ERA in three postseason appearances, including a pair of starts. He studied Gerrit Cole in the Yankees' clinching 3-1 win in Game 4 and tried to emulate the ace's demeanor.

“There's runners on and he gets out of a jam,” Rodón said. “It’s pretty even keel walking off the mound. There’s no screaming. There’s no fist pumping or anything. He’s just, like I said, like a robot. He walks out and walks across the line and into the dugout.”

Cole took Rodón's attention as a compliment after his teammate pitched like a rotation complement.

“I think it’s just one of those things, as players we’re constantly adjusting to the experiences that we have," Cole said. "Sometimes you can’t predict everything and when something doesn’t go your way, you’re challenged to adjust. I think he did a great job.”

Rodón struck out nine and walked none, getting 25 misses among 53 swings, the most for the Yankees in a postseason game since pitch-tracking started in 2008. His pitches broke so much that catcher Austin Wells had to throw to first three times on strikeouts to get the putouts.

“We talked about how would he take the experience of the first time out, and I felt like he totally applied all of that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I thought he was just in complete command of himself and of his emotions.”

Rodón limited the Guardians to a pair of singles before Brayan Rocchio’s sixth-inning homer.

“He was very aware what the last outing ended up being and just kind of how the emotions just got a little bit away from him early," pitching coach Matt Blake said. "Each inning you could tell he was trying to stay steady and be neutral about it and just keep collecting outs.”

Boone described Rodón's change in attitude as adding poise to intensity.

“It’s not that it’s hard,” Rodón said. “It’s just being mindful of it and being focused on the next pitch, and I think that kind of leads to that robot — that poker face.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Cleveland Guardians' Brayan Rocchio, center, hits a home run off New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón (55) during the sixth inning in Game 1 of the baseball AL Championship Series Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón throws against the Cleveland Guardians during the second inning in Game 1 of the baseball AL Championship Series Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez )

New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón throws during the first inning in Game 1 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)

New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón throws during the first inning in Game 1 of the baseball AL Championship Series against the Cleveland Guardians Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)

New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodón reacts while throwing against the Cleveland Guardians during the sixth inning in Game 1 of the baseball AL Championship Series Monday, Oct. 14, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Godofredo Vásquez)

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Josh Norris capped a two-goal effort with the game-winning goal 56 seconds into overtime and the Ottawa Senators beat the Los Angeles Kings 8-7 on Monday.

Zack MacEwen also had a pair for the Senators, with Jake Sanderson, Drake Batherson, Thomas Chabot and Claude Giroux also chipping in.

Anton Forsberg surrendered three goals on nine shots before being replaced by Mads Sogaard, who was recalled on an emergency basis Monday morning and allowed four goals on 17 shots.

Kevin Fiala and Alex Laferriere each scored a pair for the Kings, while Trevor Lewis, Adrian Kempe and Tanner Jeannot also scored. Darcy Kuemper made 33 saves.

Tied 6-6 midway through the third, Norris gave the Senators their first lead of the game, but Jeannot tied it up with 5:34 remaining.

The Kings have not lost to the Senators in regulation since Jan. 10, 2019.

DEVILS 3, UTAH 0

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jake Allen registered his first shutout with New Jersey and rookie defenseman Seamus Casey scored early in the second period as the Devils downed Utah.

Stefan Noesen and Nico Hischier also scored for the Devils, who won for the fourth time in five games. New Jersey missed the playoffs last year.

Utah lost for the first time in four games. They won their home opener over Chicago, then defeated the Islanders and Rangers in overtime to start their current road trip.

Casey scored his third goal of the season on the power play at 1:14 of the middle period. Noesen scored with an assist to Casey at 8:13 of the second and Hischier added a power-play goal at 10:13 of the third.

Karel Vejmelka made 30 saves for Utah in his first start this season. Allen had 20 saves.

PANTHERS 4, BRUINS 3

BOSTON (AP) — Sam Reinhart scored on a power play and added a short-handed goal that gave Florida the lead for good in the second period as the defending Stanley Cup champions beat Boston.

Anton Lundell also scored twice and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 25 shots for Florida, which has eliminated Boston from the playoffs in each of the last two seasons.

Mason Lohrei and Johnny Beecher each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins, and Mark Kastelic had three assists. Jeremy Swyaman, making his third straight start after missing the opener following a contract holdout, made 22 saves in his first loss of the season.

RANGERS 4, RED WINGS 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Chris Kreider scored the go-ahead goal on the power play late in the second period and New York beat Detroit.

Kreider tipped Mika Zibanejad’s shot with 2:55 left in the middle period to snap a 1-1 tie after the teams traded goals in the first. Alexis Lafreniere, Reilly Smith and Zibanejad also scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin finished with 31 saves.

Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit with 2 seconds left in the first after Lafrieniere opened the scoring for the Rangers with 8:15 to go. Alex Lyon had 24 saves for the Red Wings in his first start of the season.

The Red Wings were playing their first road game. They beat Nashville 3-0 on Saturday after losing their season opener 6-3 to Pittsburgh.

PENGUINS 6, CANADIENS 3

MONTREAL (AP) — Lars Eller had two goals against his former team, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, and Pittsburgh beat Montreal.

Kris Letang, Kevin Hayes and Rickard Rakell also scored for Pittsburgh, and Tristan Jarry stopped 24 shots.

Sidney Crosby was held off the scoresheet, keeping him one point shy of 1,600. The 37-year-old is looking to become just the 10th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky and Emil Heineman scired for Montreal. Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had two assists and Sam Montembeault made 26 saves.

ISLANDERS 6, AVALANCHE 2

DENVER (AP) — Brock Nelson scored his first two goals of the season 2:49 apart in the second period, and New York beat Colorado to give coach Patrick Roy a win in his first game back in Denver.

Roy won two of his four Stanley Cup wins with Colorado and coached the team for three years before stepping down a month before training camp in 2016.

Anthony Duclair, Kyle Palmieri, Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal also scored for the Islanders, and Ilya Sorokin stopped 32 shots.

Calum Ritchie got his first NHL goal and Casey Mittelstadt also scored for Colorado, which has dopped its first three games Alexandar Georgiev made 32 saves.

Los Angeles Kings' Tanner Jeannot (10) collides with Ottawa Senators' Artem Zub (2) during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa, Ontario, Monday, Oct. 14, 2024. (Patrick Doyle/The Canadian Press via AP)