Colorado just has not been kind to the Yankees this season.
At the beginning of last week’s road trip, New York visited the Mile High City for a two game set but left feeling down in the dumps in a Mile Low valley. The Rockies held on for a wild 13-10 win in the opener and clinched a sweep with a 6-3 win the next day.
Tuesday night, the Rockie woes continued. Ivan Nova posted another poor outing as the Yankees fell behind early, and the offense, despite playing better recently against hapless opponents Minnesota and Los Angeles (AL), couldn’t catch up.
With the 8-4 win, Colorado improves to 10-5 in its last 15 games and slides a half game ahead of Pittsburgh in the NL Wild Card standings.
THE PLAY: BELTR-AWWWWWW (+.114 WPA)
Things got off track early for the Yankees, as Carlos Gonzalez lined what should have been a simple RBI single to right. However, Carlos Beltran, who really shouldn’t be playing outfield anymore, let the ball get under his glove, allowing Nolan Arenado and Gonzalez to advance an extra base each. DJ LeMahieu would likely have scored even if Beltran had appropriately fielded the ball, and CarGo was correctly credited with an RBI on the play.
TOP PERFORMERS
Rockies — Nolan Arenado: 3-for-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI
Yankees — Didi Gregorius: 2-for-4, 2B, 3B, R, RBI
NOTES
— Tuesday marked the third time in Nova’s last four starts where he’s given up 5 earned runs. Over that span, Nova has seen his ERA rise more than a full earned run, from 3.98 to 5.18.
— Carlos Beltran continued his surprising late-career hot streak (at least offensively) as he notched another 2 hits. He is now slashing .286/.318/.563 and his .881 OPS ranks fourth in the American League behind Michael Saunders, Jackie Bradley Jr. and Mike Trout.
— Brian McCann was afforded an opportunity to bring the game within striking distance in the bottom of the seventh. Instead, with runners on 2nd and 3rd, McCann struck out swinging on a full count slider from former Yankee Boone Logan. McCann’s average rose though to .219 thanks to a 1-for-4 performance.
THE HIGHLIGHT: THREE-DI GREGORIUS
Yankee Stadium is relatively small compared with some other MLB parks. It takes a really fast baserunner to leg out a triple, but Didi Gregorius did just that. In the sixth inning, Gregorius hit a fly ball to the warning track that trickled away from center fielder Charlie Blackmon. By the time Blackmon had retrieved the baseball, Gregorius was well safe with his first triple of the season. Over his last 17 games, Gregorius is hitting .353 (23-for-65) with 8 extra-base hits and 13 RBI.
UP NEXT
The Yankees conclude their season series with the Rockies hoping not to get swept. New York will send revived ace CC Sabathia (5-4, 2.20 ERA) while Colorado counters with youngster Jon Gray (4-3, 4.55 ERA).
Photo Credit: Anthony Gruppuso / USA TODAY Sports