By LARRY FLEISHER
NEW YORK (AP) — Jake Cave had four hits and three RBIs and fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as the Colorado Rockies beat the New York Yankees 9-2 on Saturday.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who leads the MLB with 49 homers, went 0 for 2 with a walk and had his consecutive game home run streak halted at four. Judge grounded into a force out in the first inning, flew out in the third, walked in the fifth and was hit by a pitch in the eighth, ending his bid — at least temporarily — to hit 50 homers for the third time in his nine-year career.
Cave doubled in the second inning and had an RBI single in a four-run third when the Rockies capitalized on two balks by rookie starter Will Warren (0-2) and a catcher’s interference by Austin Wells.
After singling in the fifth, Cave homered in the seventh to give the Rockies a 9-2 lead. It was the first career four-hit game for the 31-year-old Cave, who was traded by the Yankees to the Minnesota Twins in March 2018 for Luis Gil.
“It’s really cool,” said Cave, a minor league teammate of Judge in 2015 and 2016. “Obviously with a little bit of history there, I used to be a Yankee and everything, but anytime you can come into one of these big venues and have a game in front of these types of crowds, that’s what you got to do if you want to play in games in the playoffs, you got to be able to perform in these types of places. It’s definitely special to me.”
Cave played for the first time since last Saturday and missed a chance at a fifth hit and the cycle when he struck out in the ninth.
“He’s been a big part of when we win games it seems like, whether it’s home runs, whether it’s defense,” Colorado manager Bud Black said.
Nolan Jones also drove in three runs as the Rockies snapped a six-game road losing streak and avoided their 50th road loss.
In his fourth game back from missing over a month with a strained lower back, Jones hit a two-run double to cap the third inning.
Michael Toglia reached on the catcher’s interference, homered and reached four base four times. Toglia also scored four runs.
Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle added RBI singles as the Rockies collected 13 hits and had their second-highest run total in a road game this season.
Rookie starter Bradley Blalock (1-0) retired Judge twice and allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings for his first career victory. In his third career start, the right-hander used his fastball on Judge’s first at-bat, retired him on a slider in the third before missing with his splitter in the fifth.
“He’s got the ability to get the ball down and away with some movement on his breaking ball,” Black said. “He’s got enough fastball velocity to get it inside a little bit at the hands. He pitched him tough. He did a good job.”
At 23 years, 243 days, Blalock became the youngest Colorado pitcher to earn a win since Peter Lambert (22 years, 149 days) on Sept. 14, 2019, against San Diego.
“I know he’s a big power guy, but just had to make my pitches, execute them and I thought I did that well all day against him,” Blalock said about facing Judge.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit an RBI double and Alex Verdugo snapped an 0-for-21 skid with his first homer since July 6 as the Yankees had their three-game winning streak halted on the day they honored their 2009 championship team in their annual Old-Timers’ Day ceremony.
Warren allowed six runs, five earned, and seven hits in three innings. Warren became the third pitcher this season to be charged with three balks.
“The first one I slipped on the rubber, my cleat just came out,” Warren said. “The second one I just flinched. It happens.”
After Ezequiel Tovar started the third with a double, Warren was charged with his first balk by plate umpire John Tumpane. Tovar scored on a single by Doyle, who was balked to second during an at-bat by McMahon.
Toglia reached when Wells was cited for interference on a foul ball, Cave singled and Jones doubled to left-center field for a 6-0 lead.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: 1B DJ LeMahieu was feeling better and passed the concussion protocol after being hit in the face by a ball taking grounders at first base before Friday’s game. … INF Jon Berti (strained left calf) and RHP Ian Hamilton (strained right lat) were slated to start rehab assignments with Double-A Somerset Saturday night.
UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber (4-8, 4.64 ERA) opposes New York RHP Marcus Stroman (8-6, 3.82) on Sunday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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