Edwin Encarnacion hit a third-inning grand slam, Aaron Judge added a two-run homer in the sixth, and the host New York Yankees moved a season-high 30 games over .500 with an 8-2 victory over the slumping Colorado Rockies on Friday.
The Yankees (63-33) won their fourth straight, having rallied from an early deficit in each contest. New York played Friday without manager Aaron Boone, who served a one-game suspension for his profane rant against plate umpire Brennan Miller on Thursday. The Yankees were managed by bench coach Josh Bard.
A single by DJ LeMahieu and two walks loaded the bases in the third inning for Encarnacion, who gave the Yankees a 4-2 lead by lining a 1-2 changeup from Kyle Freeland (2-7) into the glove of a fan sitting in the first row of the left field seats. It was Encarnacion's 12th career grand slam and first since June 24, 2018.
Encarnacion has 29th homers on the season.
Judge later hit 11th homer to push New York's lead to 8-2, sending a 2-1 fastball from Yency Almonte soaring over the right field fence.
LeMahieu drove in runs with a single in the fourth and a fielder's choice in the sixth ahead of Judge's homer. He ended the night with a career-high 67 RBIs, surpassing his previous high total of 67 set in 2016 for Colorado.
New York's Mike Tauchman scored two runs, had three hits, stole a base and made two key defensive plays in left field. The former Rockies outfielder ended the second inning by throwing out a runner at the plate, and he made a sliding catch to start the fifth.
Ryan McMahon hit a homer on the first pitch of the second off J.A. Happ (8-5). Garrett Hampson had an RBI double later in the inning, but the Rockies dropped their fifth straight and fell to 2-12 since June 30.
Rockies manager Bud Black was ejected in the ninth by plate umpire Doug Eddings for arguing a checked-swing strikeout by Chris Iannetta.
Happ allowed two runs on eight hits in five innings. He struck out eight, walked two and threw 90 pitches on a 91-degree night.
Adam Ottavino struck out the side in the sixth before Stephen Tarpley pitched three scoreless innings to get credit for his second save.
In his second start since returning from the minors, Freeland allowed five runs on six hits in four innings.
--Field Level Media
