Carlos Rodon was ineffective and the Yankees offense couldn’t start as they lost 7-2 to the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on Friday night.
Take away food
-The struggling Yankees offense came out of the gates on fire in the first inning. After a Gleyber Torres first single, Giancarlo Stanton threw a two-point shot to give the Yanks an early lead.
The Yankees offense would sleep for most of the game after the first. Although they scattered a few base hits and runners, they couldn’t find the clutch hit. Stanton hit a double when he popped a pitch that dropped between first baseman and left fielder to start the sixth inning, but the Yanks couldn’t get him in.
On the ninth, with men on the first and third, a pinch Billy McKinney scratched and Antoine Volpe line up to end the game.
The Yankees went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left six on base.
– Carlos Rodon was on the mound for his second Yankees start. In his first start, the southpaw went 5.1 innings, allowing just two runs on four hits against the Cubs on July 7, and he would struggle to get through that outing with limited damage.
Rodon would go through the Rockies lineup in order through the first two innings, but he had no swing-and-miss tricks, instead forcing Colorado hitters to crash and fly.
In the third inning, Rodon’s location disappeared as he walked the first man and would have three wild pitches in the inning. The blow was a two-out, two-run brace from Brenton Doyle that put the Rockies ahead, 3-2.
The southpaw would forgo a solo shot to Randal Grichuk, who now has 18 home runs against the Yanks since 2018 – tied with Raphael Devers — to give the Rockies a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
Rodon pitched five innings (88 pitches/55 hits) allowing four runs on four hits, two walks while striking out six.
– Michael King came in relief from Rodon, and after pitching a clean sixth inning, Kris Bryant threw a two-out, two-run shot over the left-field wall to give the Rockies a 6-2 lead.
Albert Abreu had the eighth and after getting the first two outs he gave up a solo shot to nolan jones to put the Rockies up 7-2.
– DJ LeMahieu entered the series hitting just .220 but he was hitting at Coors Field where he had a lot of career success. Entering Friday, the former Rockie has 1,938 plate appearances at Coors and is down .329/.387/.447 with an .834 OPS at that stadium. He hit 21 home runs at Coors — second only to Yankee Stadium — and has 197 RBIs at Colorado, the most he has at any stadium in his career.
On Friday, he tallied a single on his first and last at bat, going 2-for-4.
– Friday started on Sean Casey era as a hitting coach and while there were some good swings in the game, the offense just couldn’t break through.
Stanton and Torres had good days at the plate, however, as the second baseman went 3-for-4 with a run scored and the slugger went 2-for-4 with a double and a homer.
Anthony Rizo finished 1 for 4 with one strikeout while Josh Donaldson was hitless in four at-bats with a walk and a strikeout, but he hit the ball hard twice. Volpe was also held without a hit in his four at-bats, but he hit the ball hard twice, including a left-field understudy that Jones had to jump and reach over his head to qualify for the final.
Strong points
And after
The Yankees continue their three-game series with the Rockies on Saturday in Colorado. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:10 p.m.
Clarke Schmidt (4-6, 4.40 ERA) should take the mound for the Yanks. The Rockies will have Connor Seabold (1-6, 6.65 ERA) on the bump.