Despite a night that featured some quality pitching from both teams, the Colorado Rockies dropped their 90th game of the season as they couldn’t recover from a third-inning grand slam. The Yankees have now won the series as the Rockies continue to struggle with putting the ball in play and taking advantage of scoring opportunities.
One grand mistake for Tomo
Tomoyuki Sugano (菅野 智之) has not always had the best outings against the New York Yankees in his Major League Baseball career. He entered the night with a 6.19 ERA in four
starts against the Yankees over eight innings.
The night started on a high note as Sugano struck out the side in the bottom of the first inning on 13 pitches. Unfortunately, Luis García Jr. blasted a belt-high sinker for his 29th home run of the season to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Sugano then fell into a trap that has hurt him over the last month as he started to labor in the second inning. Despite throwing nearly 30 pitches in the inning and issuing walks to Spencer Jones and Austin Wells, Sugano escaped without further damage.
He seemed to rebound in the third inning, quickly retiring the first two batters of the inning. However, things quickly unraveled as Aaron Judge singled and García Jr. hit a double into the right-field corner. Sugano then walked Jones again to load the bases. That set the table for George Lombard Jr. to sneak a grand slam over the right field walk to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead.
For Sugano, that was just the second time this season the bases had become loaded against him and just the second time in his professional career that he’s given up a grand slam, the other coming in 2022. For the Yankees, Lombard Jr. became the youngest Yankee to ever hit a grand slam at home.
Ever the professional, Sugano settled in and retired the final nine batters he faced. Aside from the third inning, it was another strong outing for Sugano. He ended up throwing 99 pitches over six innings, allowing five runs on just four hits, including the two home runs. He also tallied five strikeouts while issuing three walks.
Warren of Attrition
Ignoring the grand slam, the game had a sense of a pitchers duel between the two starters as Will Warren was particularly dominant for the Yankees.
The Rockies certainly had a few chances to make it a closer game. In the top of the third inning, the Rockies got the first two men on base. However, Jake McCarthy struck out on a foul bunt, followed by a swinging strikeout of Cole Carrigg. TJ Rumfield — who drew his 67th walk in the first inning to tie Dexter Fowler’s rookie record — then popped out in foul territory on a highlight-reel catch by Ryan McMahon.
The Rockies then had something cooking in the fifth inning after a one-out home run followed by singles from Zac Veen and McCarthy. Warren escaped any danger by getting Carrigg to bounce into a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning.
Warren breezed through six innings, allowing just one run on four hits. The Rockies’ strikeout issues continued as he tallied eight strikeouts against two walks while throwing 95 pitches, 65 for strikes.
Yankees add on in the eighth
After the double-play in the top of the fifth, there wouldn’t be another base runner for either team until Carrigg drew a walk with two outs in the top of the eighth. There were 18 consecutive batters retired between the two teams. Rumfield almost had the first hit since McCarthy’s single in the fifth, but Jose Caballero made a nice leaping grab to rob the hit.
After a quick seventh inning, Rockies reliever Juan Mejia came back out to face the top of the Yankees order in the eighth. The Yankees finally found a way to add on to their lead when Cody Bellinger hit a line drive that carried out to right field for a Yankee Stadium home run, making it 6-1. Judge then collected his second single of the game, followed by a one-out double from Jones, but Mejia escaped without any further damage.
Notable Norby offense
The offensive bright spot for the Rockies came courtesy of Connor Norby. He ended up going 2-for-3 batting out of the eight-spot in the lineup. He collected the team’s first hit with his double in the third and then scored the Rockies’ lone run with a home run in the fifth inning. Since joining the Rockies, Norby is slashing .280/.372/.463 with three home runs and 12 RBI in 82 at-bats.
As for the rest of the Rockies, the team collected five total hits, including a Kyle Karros triple in the ninth, while striking out 11 times with three walks. They also went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
Up next
The Rockies will look to avoid the sweep Thursday evening against the Yankees. Ryan Feltner will take the hill for the Rockies while Max Fried toes the rubber for New York.
First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 pm MDT.
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