About Last Night: Tigers 6, Yanks 2

By Andy Singer

April 8th, 2025

The Big Story

On a frigid day that saw frequent bouts of snow flurries in Detroit, the Yankees and Tigers somehow played a baseball game that counted. My bones and joints ached watching the players try to throw, hit, and run, and they certainly didn't look particularly happy about it either. Alas, someone had to win, and the Tigers braved the cold better than the Yankees on Monday, beating them 6-2.

Rodon was efficient and strong on the mound...until he wasn't. A few too many baserunners and one flat pitch in the 3rd inning undid what could have otherwise been a solid outing for Rodon, who still managed to strikeout 8 Tigers in 6 innings and 103 pitches of work.

The Yankee offense, so hot to begin the season, went as cold as the temperature against the Tigers' Casey Mize, a former top prospect who looks reborn here in 2025. The Yankees were able to create some scattered scoring chances, but they just weren't able to string those hits together enough to make a difference.

More alarming for the Yanks was the horrid defensive display. Oswaldo Cabrera cost the team a run with a badly booted ball in the 5th inning, and the team just generally looked uncomfortable in the field. I'm sincerely hoping the weather played into it.

It was a poor start to the series, and it won't get any easier for the Yanks, as the forecast for the next few days looks cold with a wintry mix at times. The Yanks have work to do to avoid their first 3-game losing streak of the season.

A Deeper Dive

Adventures in the Strike Zone

Anyone who yearns for some form of robot umpires could have a field day with yesterday's game. Home plate umpire, Bruce Dreckman, got his fair share of comments and sideways glances from both teams throughout the day. If I were a hitter, I probably would have felt the same way. For what it's worth, here are the pitch plots for called strikes for both teams, courtesy of Statcast:

Yeah...the strike zone was close to 6 inches wider in yesterday's game. You could argue that there were as many as 16 bad called strikes by the letter of the strike zone (and I would argue that even Statcast misses the bottom of Judge's strike zone, as one of the called strikes on Judge at the bottom of the zone looks 3 inches higher than it was in real life). This was a prime example of a game that begged for robot umpires.

I say that, and yet...I thought Dreckman was consistent and fair. The strike zone was huge, but he called it that way for both teams, which is all you can ask for from human involvement. Frankly, in that situation, it's up to the players to adjust to the strike zone being given. That proved to be a struggle for the Yankees.

The Best and Worst of Rodon

This was a tough outing for Rodon. It's really hard for a guy who has had multiple significant arm injuries to get and stay loose when it's really cold out, and I think Rodon was going through exactly that yesterday. His velocity and movement were both down across the board.

And yet...Rodon was excellent through his first 2 and change innings of work. Rodon was efficient, pitching partially to contact, but also showing he could come up with big strikeouts when he needed them. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to keep it up in the 3rd inning. Rodon issued two 1-out walks, and after a dominant strikeout for the second out of the inning, he just couldn't put Andy Ibanez away, as Ibanez slugged a rocket liner over the left field wall for a 3-run homer that gave the Tigers the lead for good.

Ibanez homered on a change-up that was the right pitch in close to the right location, but the pitch was not crisp as it had been in Rodon's previous two outings. The pitch was a hair firm and just looked flat. The numbers corroborate that opinion, as Rodon saw 3 fewer inches of vertical drop on his change-up yesterday.

Rodon had good stuff and decent command, striking out 8 over 6 innings, but he just couldn't keep innings from ending as the game went along. Bad defense victimized him a bit, but Rodon just didn't finish off enough hitters. You can do less than squint to see the positives, but this still goes down as an ugly game for the sake of ERA.

Sloppy Defense at the Wrong Time

Oswaldo Cabrera booted a ball on the first batter of the fifth inning on a routine grounder. It was an odd play, because it really looked like it was Volpe's ball, but Cabrera was shifted so close to the standard SS spot, that I can't blame him too much for taking the play. However, Rodon had looked as though he was righting the ship after the Ibanez homer in the 3rd inning, and this routine grounder looked like a continuation of that effort. Unfortunately, a booted ball by a normally sure-handed infielder really seemed to tank Rodon's rhythm. That's not an excuse for Rodon, but it led to an unearned run in short order.

Good defense can give a team and pitcher momentum. Sadly, the inverse is also true.

Ben Rice Stays Hot

Ben Rice reached base in 3 of his 4 plate appearances, with 2 walks and a booming triple to the cavernous right-centerfield gap in Detroit. Rice and Judge were most of the offense on Monday, but Rice really did a good job to set the tone. He had one really bad play (we'll talk about it in a minute), but the guy just keeps hitting. I hope it stays this way.

Player of the Game

Despite the baserunning blunder, I'm going with Ben Rice, as he's the only guy who reached base 3 times or more.

Notable Performances

Ben Rice: 1-2, 3B, 2 BB

Aaron Judge: 1-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Paul Goldschmidt: 2-4

Carlos Rodon: 6+ IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 8 K, 3 BB...He was better than his line indicates, but he also needs that line to be a lot better.

Better to Forget

The offense...it was offensive.

...and there's the matter of the aftermath of Ben Rice's triple. Rice got picked off of 3B on a snap throw from the catcher. That should never happen, particularly on a day where runs were at a premium. I honestly would have considered benching Rice there, but what do I know.

Odds and Ends

• Seriously, it was way too cold to play baseball. It was ridiculous watching the snow flurries fly around the players as they bundled up to try to stay warm. There's an old George Carlin bit about the differences between football and baseball. One of his comparisons involves the weather in which both sports are played. If the only baseball game you ever saw was this one, the joke wouldn't make any sense.

• The Yankee offense looked bad, but I actually enjoyed watching Casey Mize pitch for the Tigers. That's the closest I've seen him look to the guy he was when he was first drafted. If he's finally healthy, he might be really good.

• Rodon's line wasn't good, but it wouldn't shock me if he spins off 3 or 4 good starts after this. He looks really close to me.

• Jazz Chisholm looked a bit lost at the plate, and that's not the first time I've thought that in recent days. I can't help but think he's at the beginning stages of a cold streak.

• Austin Wells has batted lower in the lineup since his lead-off debut. He got hit hard by a foul ball in the shoulder on Opening Day. I wonder if his move in the lineup has something to do with that, or if it's just coincidence.

• As logical as I am in observing the game, the player in me really loves the art of the game. Some of that involves understanding an ump's strike zone versus your conception of the standard strike zone. It's an art using that to your advantage...just ask Greg Maddux. Sometimes, it's fun to see, as long as the ump is consistent.

• It's so strange to feel let down when Judge only produces an RBI single. That guy is incredible.

Looking to Tomorrow

The Yanks look to avoid a losing streak as they take on the Tigers again tomorrow afternoon. Carlos Carrasco takes the hill for the Yankees against Tarik Skubal at 1:10 PM. It's going to be cold and rainy/snowy during tomorrow's game as well. I'll be happy to enjoy the game on TV instead.