What started as a promising outing for New York Yankees starter Carlos Rodon quickly dissipated against the Kansas City Royals on Monday night.
Rodon was cruising through the first three innings of the game. His high energy persona was vibing well with the loud Yankee Stadium crowd.
His final line was 3.2 innings, seven hits, four earned runs, no walks and seven strikeouts.
Rodon was in complete control from the start, striking out the side in the first inning. He worked around a two-out single in the second inning, striking out Tommy Pham to end the frame.
Rodon then worked around a pair of one-out singles in the third inning to keep the game scoreless.
The Yankees then got some life by manufacturing a run in the bottom of the third inning on a Giancarlo Stanton home run.
Then, Rodon's night quickly fell apart.
The southpaw hung a slider to Salvador Perez, who smoked the ball deep into the left field stands. Rodon's night continued to unravel from there.
Yuli Gurriel singled and moved to second on a wild pitch before a Michael Massey strikeout. Then, Pham came through with an RBI single before a Hunter Renfroe strikeout.
With two outs, Rodon ended his night by surrendering a two-out RBI single to Garrett Hampton.
Ian Hamilton came on in relief of Rodon, allowing a Maikel Garcia RBI single to make it 4-1 by the time he tagged out between first and second base.
It started out as a fantastic outing, one that seemed primed to extend well beyond the fourth inning.
But as it has happened many times in postseason history, it only takes one inning for it all to go to waste.
