Yankees look sluggish in loss to Rockies on Old-Timers' Day
Yankees starting pitcher Will Warren yells into his mitt after the top of the third inning against the Rockies of an MLB game at Yankee Stadium on Saturday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
The stage was set for something special at Yankee Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Aaron Judge was one home run shy of 50. The Yankees brought back many of their former greats for their annual Old-Timers’ Day.
Instead, the Rockies spoiled the party with a 9-2 win in front of 40,438 at Yankee Stadium.
The Yankees managed only five hits and the Rockies had 13, including home runs by Michael Toglia and former Yankees prospect Jake Cave (four hits).
It’s not what fans were looking for after Judge hit his 49th home run Friday. The Rockies (48-82), who own the National League’s worst record, held the Yankees (76-54) to one hit in the final five innings.
Judge, who had homered in four straight games, went 0-for-2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch.
Rockies righthander Bradley Blalock earned the first win of his career, allowing five hits and four walks in 5 1⁄3 innings.
Yankees rookie righthander Will Warren (0-2, 9.68) was roughed up in his three innings, his shortest outing through four career starts. He allowed six runs (five earned), seven hits and a walk, striking out six.
Warren balked twice and catcher Austin Wells committed catcher’s interference in the third inning as the Rockies scored four runs to take a 6-0 lead.
With Ezequiel Tovar on second after a leadoff double, Warren balked him to third and allowed an RBI single by Brenton Doyle.
“The first one, I just slipped on the rubber,” said Warren, who stopped in the middle of a pitch. “My cleat just came out. The second, I just flinched. It happens.”
After balking Doyle to second, Warren recorded two outs, but on a 1-and-2 pitch to Toglia, Wells was called for catcher’s interference, putting runners on first and second.
Cave followed with an RBI single and Nolan Jones added a two-run double, prompting boos from the crowd.
Warren has 23 strikeouts in 17 2⁄3 innings, but manager Aaron Boone sees an outing like Saturday’s as part of his learning curve.
“He’s not afraid. He’s got confidence,” Boone said. “But he’s taking his lumps a little bit here and hopefully things we can all learn from and help him grow from because he’s got the pitches to get it done.’’
Warren’s outing followed three games in which the Yankees allowed a total of one run and the starting pitchers gave up eight hits in 19 scoreless innings.
Mark Leiter Jr. allowed Toglia’s solo home run in the fifth and Michael Tonkin gave up Cave’s two-run shot in the seventh.
Alex Verdugo led off the fourth with a 402-foot drive into the Yankees’ bullpen on an 0-and-2 pitch. He had gone 143 at-bats and 164 plate appearance since his most recent homer on July 6.
Jazz Chisholm Jr., in his second game back after suffering a sprained left elbow, had an RBI double and a single.
“Very encouraged,” Chisholm said. “I felt like I didn’t lose a step after yesterday and it’s time to get back to work and go win this division.”
The AL East-leading Yankees’ lead over the Orioles dropped to a half-game as Baltimore beat Houston for the second straight game.
Notes & quotes: DJ LeMahieu, a late scratch Friday with a facial contusion after being hit by a ball, wasn’t in the lineup. “I know last night after the game he was considerably better, looked better, felt better,” Boone said after LeMahieu went through concussion protocol . . . Giancarlo Stanton was given Saturday off. With the Yankees in a stretch of nine consecutive games, Boone planned to rest Stanton for one of them . . .
Jon Berti (left calf strain) and Ian Hamilton (right lat strain) began rehab assignments with Double-A Somerset on Saturday.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
