Yankees outlast Rockies in rain-soaked thriller 5-4

Colorado—The Yankees took down the Rockies 5-4 in nail-biting fashion to win the series and improve to a season high 12 games above. .500 (32-20). Will Warren got the start for the Yankees, and Antonio Senzatela took the ball for the Rockies. 

Paul Goldschmidt led off the game with a groundball single right back up the middle. A couple of batters later, Aaron Judge dunked in a bloop single that just stayed fair in right field, allowing Goldy to go first to third. Then Cody Bellinger avoided a double play, legging out an RBI fielder's choice to make it 1-0 Yankees. 

Warren quickly gave up a leadoff double, followed by a single and a walk to load the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the first inning. The Rockies tied the game up at 1-1 on a wild pitch with still nobody out. The Rockies took a 2-1 lead on a RBI groundout from Ryan McMahon. Anthony Volpe made an unbelievable play to save another run, which was initially called safe but overturned after further review. 

“I was pumped about that,” Warren said on Volpes' play to end the first inning. “Big play there, replay made it a little sketchy for all of us, but it was good. Yeah, I did, whenever I saw Boone challenge, I was pretty excited because I knew we got him.”

In the top of the second inning, Volpe just missed a leadoff home run but was able to leg out a triple. JC Esacra then lined a RBI double down the third base line to tie the game up at 2-2. 

In the bottom of the third inning, Warren struck out the Rockies in order on some nasty sweepers to quickly put his punchout total up to five for the ballgame. 

Warren recorded two more strikeouts in the bottom of the fourth inning to put his total up to seven on the day. 

It started pouring down rain in the top of the fifth inning, Goldy Knocks lined his second single of the game to left center. Ben Rice followed that up with a four-pitch walk; Judge then lined an RBI double into the left field corner to give the Yankees a 3-2 lead.

The Rockies then intentionally walked Cody Bellinger to load the bases. Jasson Dominguez then drove a sac fly to dead center to make it a 4-2 game. In the middle of Volpes at bat, the rain really started to come down, leading to a rain delay. After a one-hour and 45-minute rain delay, play resumed. Volpe lined out to strand two runners in scoring position. 

Jonathan Loáisiga replaced Warren on the mound in the bottom of the fifth inning due to the long delay. Loáisiga worked an easy 1-2-3 inning on just 11 pitches. 

Will Warren's final line: four innings pitched, two hits allowed, two earned runs, two walks, and two strikeouts on 57 pitches. Warren threw his fastball 35% of the time, the sinker 23%, the sweeper 18%, the changeup 16%, and the curveball 9% of the time. Warren did a great job settling in after a grind of a first inning, firing three dominant innings after that, and he would have kept going if it wasn't for the rain delay. 

“I think it was good, obviously the first inning I gave up the two,” Warren said. “I think I stayed within our game plan and within myself, and kept making competitive pitches to try and keep it at a minimum and let this offense score some runs.”

Loáisiga remained in the game in the bottom of the sixth and quickly picked up the first two outs of the inning, then gave up a single and a RBI double to Brenton Doyale to cut the Yankees' lead to 4-3. Mark Letier Jr. replaced Loáisiga and walked a batter, then got former 2016 first-overall pick Mickey Moniak to ground out to strand runners at the corners.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Leiter Jr. remained in the game and picked up two strikeouts to help retire the Rockies in order. 

Dominguez worked a one-out walk in the top of the eighth inning, then immediately stole second base. A couple batters later, JC picked up a two-out RBI single to add some insurance for the Yankees, making it 5-3, JC’s third hit of the game, the first three-hit game of his career. 

“Yeah, just getting comfortable and knowing my role and getting good in my role,” JC said on staying prepared at the plate despite not getting consistent at-bats. “I know what to expect, Wells is doing such a great job, I’m just trying to relieve the pressure a little bit from him, so whenever my name is called, just try and do the same job that Wells does every day.”

Devin Williams came in to pitch, replacing Leiter Jr. in the bottom of the eighth inning, and worked into and out of trouble, picking up three strikeouts to strand runners on first and second. 

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Luke Weaver replaced Devin Williams and immediately served up a solo home run to Mickey Moniak to make it a 5-4 game. Weaver then gave up back-to-back singles, but Weaver dialed it in picking up the final two outs of he ballgame to strand the tying run at second base and the winning run at first, as well as giving the Yankees the series win.

Catcher JC Escara talked about helping Weaver, who gave up a season-high three hits today, navigate through the ninth inning. 

“Yeah, I mean it happens,” JC said. "Such a great pitcher, but at the end of the day, it's just getting those three outs. The game was 5-4, you know some adversity, but we were able to get some soft contact and get the win today.”

The Yankees will now head to Anaheim to face the Angels. Jack Kochanowicz will get the start for the Angels, and it will most likely be Ryan Yarbrough for the Yankees, but it is still TBD.  The first pitch will be at 9:38 p.m. ET on the YES Network. 

My thoughts on the game: Warren's start was solid. He settled in nicely after a grind of a first inning and could have gotten through at least six if it wasn't for the rain. Another two-hit day from Goldy Knocks, a big three-hit and two-RBI day from JC. Another two-hit day from Judge as he is hitting just under .400 at .397 with a 1.246 OPS. The bullpen was solid for being at Coors Field, just giving up two runs. Loáisiga gave up his first run of the year, and Weaver gave up his first home run and second run of the season. It's on to tomorrow as the Yankees will take on the red-hot Angels, who are 8-2 in their last 10 games.  Side note, if anyone cares, Mickey Moniak went to my high school, and I have been watching him ever since he was in Little League, so it's always cool to see him playing in the MLB.