It was turn back the clock night for Carlos Rodon at Yankee Stadium on Friday, which was bad news for the Yankees.
The left-hander, who has rebounded well after a disastrous first season in The Bronx, reverted back to his 2023 form against the Braves, as he gave up eight runs — seven earned — in just 3 ⅔ innings.
And then he got booed off the mound by a crowd that watched too many of those performances from Rodon a year ago.
It was the most runs Rodon has allowed this season and he hasn’t given up more than the 11 hits he surrendered since giving up a dozen to the Yankees in a 2016 start with the White Sox.
And it came with Rodon coming off a rough outing in Boston, when the Red Sox tagged him for five runs in five innings.
Again, he was inefficient, needing 109 pitches to get through five innings at Fenway Park and 93 pitches on Friday without getting out of the fourth.
Worrisomely, Rodon has been terrible in his four outings against AL East foes.
Including Friday, he’s given up 21 earned runs in 15 ⅔ for an ERA of 12.09 versus divisional opponents.
This one began in ugly fashion, as ex-Met prospect Jarred Kelenic singled on the first pitch of the game and Ozzie Albies followed on the second pitch from Rodon by hitting it into the left field seats for a 2-0 Atlanta lead two pitches into the game.
Austin Riley hit a solo shot later in the inning, and the rout was on.
The second inning didn’t start much better, as Adam Duvall singled and went to third on Ramon Laureano’s double.
Another Kelenic single made it 4-0 and the Braves tacked on another run in the third.
By the time he was done with that inning, Rodon had thrown 69 pitches and then gave up a two-run shot to Matt Olson in the fourth.
An RBI double from Sean Murphy finally ended Rodon’s night after 93 pitches, not the outing the Yankees were looking for after Gerrit Cole pitched four-plus innings in his season debut Wednesday and Luis Gil delivered the worst Yankee start of the season Thursday, when he lasted just 1 ⅓ innings.