DENVER — It was not always a given, despite what the records said, but the Yankees did indeed escape Coors Field on Sunday without a dubious distinction following them to California.
By winning their sixth straight series, the Yankees also avoided becoming the victim of what could have been the first series victory of the season in 17 tries for the historically bad Rockies.
They made sure of that by taking the rubber game with just enough timely hitting and pitching around a lengthy rain delay to squeak past the Rockies 5-4.
J.C. Escarra led the Yankees (32-20) with the first three-hit game of his career, driving in a pair of runs, and Aaron Judge broke a 2-2 stalemate in the fifth inning with an RBI double just as the skies opened up and led to a delay of 1 hour, 46 minutes.
J.C. Escarra hits an RBI single during the Yankees’ win against the Rockies on May 25.
Another solid start from Will Warren — it began rocky before he found cruise control and struck out seven across four innings — was cut short because of the long delay, but the Yankees pieced together the final five innings with Jonathan Loáisiga (1 ²/₃ innings), Mark Leiter Jr. (1 ¹/₃ innings), Devin Williams and Luke Weaver to fend off the Rockies (9-44)
“We can’t take any major league team lightly,” Escarra said. “We got to play with the same intensity, no matter who it is. But at the end of the day, we took the series and move on to the next one.”
Escarra’s RBI single in the top of the eighth, which at the time made it a 5-3 game, proved key in the bottom of the ninth, when Weaver gave up his first home run of the year, a leadoff shot to Mickey Moniak.
Ryan McMahon reacts after striking out during the Rockies’ loss to the Yankees on May 25.APHe then allowed a pair of singles with one out to flirt with danger, but he escaped by getting the next two batters in order for his eighth save.
“[Weaver] is probably, stuff-wise, impacted the most by this air,” manager Aaron Boone said. “It really takes away from his unique fastball. But he just kind of figured it out, kept making pitches.”
An inning before Weaver’s escape act, Williams stranded the tying runs on base.
Escarra, who had four hits in his 24 at-bats since April 18 (spanning 12 games) before Sunday, picked a good time to break out while getting the start to give Austin Wells a breather.
It has been an adjustment not getting at-bats on a regular basis, but he has delivered some big at-bats along the way and produced again Sunday when the Yankees needed him.
“It meant a lot that the three-hit game could come in a game we [won to] take the series from the Rockies,” Escarra said. “The more I get out there, the more comfortable I get, but I know my role. I’m just trying to relieve a little pressure from Wellsy. He’s doing such a great job back there. Learn from him and do as good of a job as he does when he’s in there.”
For the third time in three games here, the Yankees jumped ahead 1-0 in the first inning.
Once again it was Paul Goldschmidt and Judge, who each had two-hit games, setting the table with hits off Antonio Senzatela before Cody Bellinger beat out a potential double play to score Goldschmidt.
Warren, who was coming off three straight strong starts entering Sunday, had a dicey bottom of the first inning as he loaded the bases with no outs.
Jasson Dominguez hits a sacrifice fly during the Yankees’ win against the Rockies on May 25.Getty Images
Aaron Judge hits an RBI double during the Yankees’ win against the Rockies on May 25.Getty Images
With Ryan McMahon at the plate, the right-hander threw a low changeup that trickled past Escarra — who had to get around home plate umpire Edwin Jimenez to retrieve the ball — as Beck raced home to tie the game.
McMahon grounded out to first, which allowed Tovar to score from third for the 2-1 lead.
But Anthony Volpe made sure the inning did not get out of hand from there as he made a diving stop to his right on a grounder from Michael Toglia and then threw from his knees, getting just enough on it for the out at first to end the inning.
