On yet another day when the Yankees offered a reminder that it can always get worse, Carlos Rodón took a turn doing his part.
There was plenty of bad around him, from the pregame news that Clarke Schmidt is headed for Tommy John surgery to more sloppy defense behind him and even some friendly fire that bloodied Aaron Judge.
But Rodón did little to help plug the hole of water gushing out of the sinking ship that is the Yankees.
The left-hander turned in arguably his worst start of the season and put the Yankees in an immediate four-run hole on the way to a sixth straight loss, 12-6 to the Mets on Saturday at Citi Field.
“[I had] a lot of misses today, and they punished them,” Rodón said. “Obviously, we fell short again, and the performance by me was very subpar, so [I] didn’t put us in position to win.”
Rodón was tagged for seven runs (six earned) across five innings, most of the damage coming on Brandon Nimmo’s grand slam (on a 1-2 count) in the first inning and Pete Alonso’s two-run homer in the fifth.
The Yankees came into the game holding the clear-cut pitching advantage — Rodón facing ex-Yankee Frankie Montas — and yet they took another loss, their 16th in the past 22 games.
“I should have been better at my craft, but today, I just wasn’t good enough,” Rodón said.
The Yankees are expected to address third base by the July 31 trade deadline. For now, they took a flier on a struggling veteran.
The club signed third baseman Jeimer Candelario to a minor league deal on Saturday and assigned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where the 31-year-old switch-hitter will try to prove he has something left.
Candelario hit just .113 (9-for-80) with a .410 OPS in 22 games with the Reds before landing on the injured list with a lower back injury, and then when he got healthy, he was designated for assignment.
In doing so, the Reds ate the nearly $23 million left on Candelario’s contract, with president of baseball operations Nick Krall describing it as a “sunk cost.”
Acquiring a third baseman would allow the Yankees to move Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second base, where he is better defensively.
He made his third error in four games Saturday, throwing high to first base on a ground ball in the second inning that led to a run.
Austin Wells got hit on the top of his catcher’s mask by a foul tip in the third inning.
Home plate umpire Laz Diaz quickly called for the Yankees trainer, but after Wells underwent some precautionary tests, he remained in the game.
“It’s just part of the position,” said Wells, who homered in the top of the inning. “I think Laz was being nice and giving me some time.”
For the first time this season, Cody Bellinger started at first base, with Paul Goldschmidt on the bench and Ben Rice at DH.
Yerry De Los Santos (right elbow discomfort) threw his first bullpen session Saturday since landing on the injured list.
The reliever, who had pitched to a 1.80 ERA across 14 games and 20 innings before getting hurt, would be an important arm for the Yankees to get back at a time when their bullpen has been overworked and not pitching well.
