Yankees 6, Rockies 3: Schmidt strong, Stanton smashes
Friday night was set to be an interesting game for the Yankees on paper. For one, it was the first game after their All-Star break. Beyond that, it was the first one under new hitting coach Sean Casey after they made a rare midseason coaching move. While it started well, that game ended up looking a lot like the games before the All-Star break. That left a poor taste in people’s mouths going into Saturday’s game, but the matchup today went much better for the Coors Field visitors.
The offense jumped on Colorado starter Connor Seabold early and often, knocking him out early. Gleyber Torres and DJ LeMahieu both had multi-hit days, while Giancarlo Stanton hit another home run. On the mound, Clarke Schmidt put in one of his best performances of the season. In six innings, he allowed two runs on three hits and a walk, matching his season high with eight strikeouts. All of that enabled the Yankees to look much better in a 6-3 win over the Rockies.
For the second-straight game, the Yankees’ offense got off to a fast start. Torres led off the game with a triple off the wall, that Rockies center fielder Brenton Doyle misplayed a bit. That allowed him to score in the next at-bat on Stanton’s groundout. Unlike yesterday, the offense managed to put up more offense beyond what they did in the first.
Before that happened, the Rockies struck back in the bottom half of the inning despite not recording a hit, as Schmidt competed a hat trick of things a pitcher shouldn’t do. To start his day, Schmidt put a runner on, plunking Jurickson Profar with a pitch. Groundouts in the next two at-bat moved Profar all the way over to third. After walking All-Star Game MVP Elias Díaz, Schmidt was called for a balk during the next at-bat, allowing Profar to score to tie the game.
The Yankees went back in front in the second thanks to some Rockies’ defensive miscues. LeMahieu led off the inning with a double that right fielder Nolan Jones misread and allowed to go over a leaping attempt. Two batters later, Harrison Bader hit what looked like was going to be a normal popup, but second baseman Harold Castro couldn’t make the catch, allowing it to drop in for a single. After an Anthony Volpe walk, Kyle Higashioka lifted a fly ball that was deep enough for LeMahieu to tag up and score. Torres’ good series continued when he hit an RBI single, but the big blow came from Stanton. He hit his second home run in as many days, taking a three-run blast out to right field.
The 389th homer of Stanton’s terrific career also gave him his 1,000th career RBI. He’s the 302nd player to MLB history to reach that milestone, per Baseball Reference.
While New York didn’t add to its lead in the third, the lineup did knock out Seabold. Discounting opener/bullpen game situations, it was the first time the lineup had knocked out a starter that early since San Diego’s Yu Darvish back on May 28th.
After the first inning, Schmidt mostly cruised through the next five innings. He came back out for the seventh inning, but allowed a home run to C.J. Cron to start the frame. That ended up being it for Schmidt as Aaron Boone went to Wandy Peralta.
Peralta tossed a scoreless seventh, and the Yankees turned it over to Tommy Kahnle for the eighth. He ran into some trouble, allowing a double to Profar, throwing a wild pitch, and then walking Kris Bryant. His run of a 0.00 ERA came to an end as a run scored on a double play, but he worked out of some trouble without things getting too iffy. (A 0.55 ERA on the season isn’t too shabby anyway.)
As good as they were against Seabold, the Yankees could not muster anything in the few chances they had against the Rockies’ bullpen. That left the lead at three runs as Clay Holmes came in for the ninth. He gave up a single with two outs, but otherwise didn’t any stress as he finished things off.
The only other note from the game is that Josh Donaldson appeared to hurt himself on a groundball in the seventh inning. He as DHing tonight, so he didn’t exit, but Aaron Boone revealed in the postgame that Donaldson will undergo an MRI.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Yankees will look to complete the comeback after a bad Friday night as they go for a series win. Gerrit Cole will make his first start of the second half, and his first after starting for the AL in the All-Star Game. The first pitch from Rockies right-hander Chase Anderson will come at 3:10pm ET.
Box Score
Source: Pinstripe Alley
