Yankees Stay Red Hot, Rout Rockies Again For 5th Straight Win
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — The Yankees are as hot as the weather, torching Colorado pitching for the second straight day.
Edwin Encarnación chased Anthony Senzatela with a two-run double in a five-run second inning, and New York romped over the Rockies 11-5 Saturday for its fifth straight win.
On an afternoon with a 94-degree game time temperature, the highest for the Yankees this season, New York went ahead when Aaron Judge doubled in a run on Senzatela's 10th pitch and took a 9-0 lead by the fourth.
Encarnación added an RBI double in the seventh and has 21 RBI in 24 games since Yankees acquired him from Seattle, including seven in the weekend series. DJ LeMahieu raised his AL-leading average to .334 with three hits, giving him five in two games against his former team.
Without hitting a single home run, New York hammered out 14 hits in the rout and continued to be scorching hot in the clutch. The Yankees went 6-for-15 with runners in scoring position Saturday, raising their league-best average to .299 in those opportunities.
New York began the day with a nine-game AL East lead, its largest in seven years, and increased its best-in-the-majors record to 64-33. The Yankees are 14-0-1 in their last 15 home series and are on their fifth winning streak of five games or more.
Masahiro Tanaka (7-5) needed just 46 pitches to breeze through five innings, getting nine groundouts, three strikeouts, two flyouts and a lineout while allowing a pair of singles. Senzatela and Chad Bettis combined to throw 79 pitches in the first two innings alone.
Tanaka withered quickly in the extreme heat however, allowing Colorado to creep back in with a five-run sixth that included Nolan Arenado's 22nd homer, a three-run drive that hit the top of the center-field wall and bounced over.
New York's only real worry was first baseman Luke Voit. He was hit in the fourth by a 91 mph pitch from Bettis that glanced off his left shoulder and struck the left side of his face. Voit scored on Gleyber Torres' two-run single, then returned to the clubhouse and was replaced. The Yankees said tests indicated he did not have a concussion.
Colorado came apart in the second after Didi Gregorius' leadoff single. Torres singled to left for the first of his three hits, and Gregorius sped to third as Tapia held the ball for about four seconds and then tossed ever-so-softly toward third. Senzatela cut off the throw and flung the ball into right field as Torres headed to second, allowing Gregorius to head home.
Romine singled for a 3-0 lead, made a delayed steal of second with the infield shifted for LeMahieu and scored on a bases-loaded single by Aaron Hicks, who had been 4-for-45 in his career with the bases full.
OUCH!
Rockies C Tony Wolters was limping after the 6-foot-7, 282-pound Judge slid into him trying to score on Encarnación's first-inning grounder to shortstop Trevor Story. Wolters held onto the ball and tagged out Judge.
NEW VIEW:
Yankees manager Aaron Boone watched Friday's game from owner Hal Steinbrenner's box, between the second and third decks, between home plate and third base. Boone was serving a one-game suspension for his tirade at an umpire Thursday.
UP NEXT:
LHP James Paxton (5-4) starts Sunday's series finale for the Yankees. RHP German Márquez (8-5), who starts for the Rockies, has the highest ERA among qualified NL pitchers at 5.12.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)