Judge and Rodón unable to deliver as Yankees drop Game 2 to Royals in ALDS

NEW YORK (AP) — Two games into this postseason, those big-money deals for Aaron Judge and Carlos Rodón haven’t paid any October dividends for the New York Yankees.

Judge mustered little at the plate again Monday night and Rodón failed to last four innings in his first playoff start with New York during a 4-2 loss to the Kansas City Royals that squared their best-of-five AL Division Series at one apiece.

Game 3 is Wednesday night in Kansas City.

“If I’m not hitting 1.000, I’m not feeling good,” Judge said. “So just got to keep getting on base for the guys behind me. If they get on, I’ve got to drive them in.”

Given a 1-0 lead going into the fourth, Rodón immediately squandered it by serving up a leadoff homer to Salvador Perez on a 2-0 slider that left the $162 million pitcher shaking his head.

It was Perez’s fourth career homer off Rodón — the All-Star catcher entered 12 for 26 (.462) with nine RBIs in their regular-season matchups.

Rodón had looked sharp early, letting loose a primal scream after striking out his first three batters on 12 pitches (10 for strikes) and later hitting 99 mph on the radar gun. But he labored through a scoreless third inning that included two hits and then never regained his footing in the fourth.

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