WooSox Edge RailRiders 7-6 as Rodón Rehab Start Falters, Jones Shines

Carlos Rodón checked the important box for the Yankees, but Worcester made sure the night ended as a 7-6 grind instead of a clean step forward. In his first start with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and third rehab outing overall, the left-hander reached 83 pitches over 6.1 innings, struck out four and walked two, but allowed seven hits, six runs and five earned runs as the WooSox kept finding answers at Polar Park.

The outing told both sides of the Rodón story at once. The workload suggested he was moving closer to activation timing, but the command and damage also showed why the Yankees are still watching closely. Rodón gave up two home runs, with Mickey Gasper launching a two-run shot in the first and Kristian Campbell adding another in the sixth. On a night with clear skies, 75-degree weather and a 20 mph wind blowing out to left, offense had plenty of help, and 4,390 fans saw a game that never settled down.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre still had power of its own, and Spencer Jones kept driving the conversation. The Yankees’ No. 6 prospect homered for the 11th time this season in the third inning off Song, continuing a burst that has made him one of the loudest bats in Triple-A. Jones had already gone deep six times in a week earlier in the month, and he went into the Worcester series coming off a two-homer performance that had put him on a fast-rising track.

The RailRiders nearly turned Rodón’s uneven line into a rescue act. Payton Henry drove in three runs, Jason Delay and Nick Eaton each delivered RBI hits to tie the game in the seventh, and the comeback gave Scranton/Wilkes-Barre a brief opening after falling behind early. Worcester answered in the eighth, when Kristian Campbell doubled and Allas Castro delivered the go-ahead hit to restore the lead.

That final swing handed K. Keller his first win and Tommy Kahnle his second save, sealing another one-run loss for a RailRiders club that entered the night at 18-15 against Worcester’s 19-14 start. The result fit the tone of an early-season race between two of Triple-A’s stronger lineups, but the bigger takeaway belonged to Rodón: the arm looked stretched, the pitch count looked useful, and the sharpness still looked like a step away from Bronx readiness.