Yankees shift course, to activate Rodon vs. O's

NEW YORK -- Yankees left-hander Carlos Rodon will come off the injured list and start at Baltimore on Tuesday.

It's an about-face for New York, which previously said Rodon would make a minor league start that day. He made two minor league starts earlier this month, one at Triple-A and one at Double-A Somerset.

Rodon has been on the 15-day injured list since July 3 because of left elbow inflammation. He received multiple shots, including platelet-rich plasma injections, and threw 29 of 48 pitches for strikes in his first rehab outing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 11.

He allowed three runs and three hits over 2⅔ innings against Rochester, with four strikeouts and two walks.

Rodon will rejoin a strong Yankees rotation that also includes Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole, Will Warren and Ryan Weathers.

In the fourth season of a $162 million, six-year contract, Rodon is 4-2 with a 3.30 ERA in nine starts after missing the first month while recovering from offseason elbow surgery. He returned in early May and struggled with command in his first three starts. He was 4-0 with a 2.97 ERA in his last six outings before going on the IL.

Rodon had surgery Oct. 15 to remove loose bodies in his left elbow and shave a bone spur. Then he had a setback in late March when he felt tightness in his right hamstring while throwing at the Yankees' complex in Florida.

Rodon was 18-9 with a 3.09 ERA last season and is 41-28 with a 3.93 ERA in 88 starts since joining the Yankees.