NEW YORK — Tucker Barnhart believes rookie pitcher Elvin Rodriguez has a bright future ahead of him, the type of future that will put him on the mound at Yankee Stadium for a second time.
Each trip to Yankee Stadium, though, will come with a memory of his first time. The New York Yankees throttled Rodriguez for 10 runs in Friday’s series opener in front of 42,026 fans. The Yankees won 13-0 Friday, 3-0 Saturday and 5-4 Sunday for a series sweep, revealing a massive talent gap. The Detroit Tigers were booted from the Bronx with a 21-33 record, third worst in the American League.
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“I’m sure he’ll look back on this as a stepping stone or as a growing moment in his career, to help persevere through some things,” Barnhart said. “His next start is big. We’re going to do everything we can to help him prepare.”
Rodriguez refused to talk to reporters Friday night about his miserable start, where his opponent — Yankees ace Gerrit Cole — took a perfect game into the seventh inning.
A video from Jomboy Media appeared on Twitter at 11:14 a.m. Saturday, divulging how Rodriguez, in his third MLB start, tipped his pitches to the Yankees. The Bronx Bombers tallied 11 hits, four of which were home runs, against him. As of Monday afternoon, the video has 2 million views.
“They got me,” Rodriguez said Sunday. “I paid the price for that.”
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Rodriguez didn’t tip his pitches when throwing out of the windup, a motion used without runners on base. But out of the stretch, with runners on base, the 24-year-old stared toward third base before throwing fastballs. For breaking balls and off-speed pitches, Rodriguez either quickly glanced toward third base or kept his head fixated toward home plate.
The Yankees forced Rodriguez into the stretch and simply waited for fastballs, like when Matt Carpenter’s two-out bunt single down the third-base line sparked a three-run fourth inning.
Once Carpenter reached base, his teammates seemed to know what pitch was coming and didn’t miss.
“I didn’t realize I was doing that, but I saw the video,” Rodriguez said. “Yeah, I was tipping. They figured me out. I’m going to work in my next bullpen at trying to do the same movement.”
“I didn’t really notice anything,” Barnhart said. “It wasn’t egregious to the point where my antennas went up. When you slow it down and look at it like that, it’s pretty obvious.”
At times, Barnhart tried to confuse the Yankees.
He instructed Rodriguez to shake his head, which used to happen often as pitchers and catchers decided what pitch to throw the hitter. This year, there’s technology to share that information. The Tigers — and other teams — are using PitchCom, the electronic pitch-calling system.
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Barnhart, equipped with PitchCom, clicks a button at the top of his shin guard to relay the type of pitch he wants thrown, as well as the location of the ball. The button sends a message to the pitcher through an earpiece. Rodriguez confirmed those were fake shakes, noting he never had any doubts or second guesses about Barnhart’s game calling.
“I could imagine (the Yankees knew something) because I was making good pitches, and they were spitting on my breaking balls and sitting on the fastballs,” Rodriguez said. “I could imagine, but I didn’t get (why) they were picking me up.”
The Tigers didn’t learn about the pitch tipping until the eighth inning, when Barnhart hit a single off reliever Manny Bañuelos, reached first base and was greeted by a former division rival.
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, who spent eight years competing against Barnhart in the National League Central, informed the two-time Gold Glove-winning catcher about the situation. It was a classy move by Rizzo.
“It’s tough to know, even if you’re on the field,” Barnhart said. “There are some teams that are very conscious of it, whether it be because they have a lot of guys that are good at picking up tips, or they have guys that have been tippers in the past. I think the ultimate goal is to gain an advantage and do it in a way that’s legal.”
Why would Rizzo tell Barnhart?
Well, the Tigers don’t play the Yankees again this season.
And Rizzo probably wants Rodriguez, whose ERA jumped from 6.17 to 10.13, at his best when the Tigers face the rest of the AL East: Toronto Blue Jays (seven games), Tampa Bay Rays (four games), Boston Red Sox (three games) and Baltimore Orioles (seven games).
The Yankees lead the AL East at 39-15 overall. They tallied their most recent wins in a three-game sweep, kickstarted by out-smarting the Tigers and slamming Rodriguez for 10 of 13 runs in Friday’s annihilation.
“The results are still what they are, so I don’t know if it makes (Rodriguez) feel any better,” manager A.J. Hinch said. “It’s a lesson to every young pitcher of on top of everything you need to be when you’re playing elite teams. I don’t know if that was even true, that they were locked in on stuff, but young pitchers are this level are going to get taught a lot of lessons.”
Rodriguez learned his lesson.
He also has an adjustment to make.
“Now I’m going to try to just look at home,” he said, “trying to do the same every time.”
Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @EvanPetzold. Read more on the Detroit Tigers and sign up for our Tigers newsletter.