Yankees 5, Rockies 3, and somehow the final score was the least interesting part of the night. The Captain was back in the building for the first time since May, Schlittler was busy turning in a Cy Young caliber start, and Heliot Ramos came off the bench to hit the loudest ball of the game. Pick whichever storyline you want. They're all true.
The Captain's Return
Aaron Judge got activated off the 60-day injured list Monday, and by Tuesday he was back in right field, batting third, three months removed from the stress fracture in his rib that cost him 84 games. ESPN had the news out Monday night, hours before first pitch.
The Stadium didn't need the box score to care. 46,211 showed up on a Tuesday night to watch Judge take an at-bat again, and that's the story before a single pitch got thrown.
Judge went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a flyout in his first game action since May 31 (rust is rust, even for a three-time MVP), and Boone had him out of the game well before it got late. More on that call in a minute.
The Turning Point
Colorado tied it at 1 in the third when Adael Amador turned on a Schlittler sinker and lined it 385 feet to right-center -- the only real mistake Schlittler made all night. The Yankees answered two innings later. George Lombard Jr. singled, Ryan McMahon followed with a double into right field off Gabriel Hughes, and just like that New York had the lead back for good, 2-1. By win probability, it was the single biggest swing of the night. Nobody's circling that at-bat in the box score tomorrow. They should.
Schlittler Was Filthy
Everything else was a formality once Schlittler settled back in. Seven innings, three hits, one run, ten strikeouts, zero walks -- and that's a 2.01 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP now through 30 starts. He retired batters in bunches after the Amador homer and never let Colorado sniff another rally. Ten punchouts with no walks used to be a special occasion in the Bronx. From Schlittler this season, it's just Tuesday.
Ramos Cashes In
Judge came out for a defensive substitution after the sixth -- no reason to push a guy three months removed from a rib injury in a three-run game -- and Ramos slid into right field. By the eighth, nobody was second-guessing the move. Ramos turned around a Brennan Bernardino curveball and put it 402 feet into center field, a three-run shot that scored Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger and turned a one-run game into a laugher, 5-1.
Colorado got a couple back in the ninth on a Hunter Goodman homer off Tim Hill (the gap between "comfortable" and "save situation" is thinner than it looks with this bullpen), but David Bednar needed all of one out to shut the door for his 32nd save.
Boone's Call
Pulling Judge after six with the bullpen still needing to finish the job is the kind of move that gets a manager hammered on talk radio in April. In September, with the division four games out and a nine-game cushion for the Wild Card, it's just common sense (the guy missed 84 games -- no reason to find out how the rib feels in extra innings of a laugher). Ramos rewarded the decision immediately. That's the version of this move that actually works.
Two more against Colorado before the Yankees turn to bigger things. If Judge looks even a little more like himself in game two, this homestand gets a lot more interesting.
Jimmy writes the Bronx Pinstripes game recap after every Yankees game. Beat-reporter pacing, fan's heartbeat. He calls opposing players by last name and has no patience for dead-air innings.
