Despite lowly standing, Yankees don't seem inclined to panic

DENVER — The Yankees did on Saturday night what they should have done on Friday — and in a slew of other games this season — regardless of who their hitting coach is: Beat up on bad pitching.

At least they did in the early going, which is better than not at all, too often the case in 2023.

Riding a three-run homer by the suddenly surging Giancarlo Stanton in a five-run second inning and another good outing by Clarke Schmidt, the Yankees beat the Rockies, 6-3, in front of a sellout crowd of 48,632 at Coors Field.

The Yankees (50-43), who earned their first victory in two games with new hitting coach Sean Casey directing the offense, outhit the Rockies 8-6 in climbing out of a tie for last place and into fourth in the AL East.

“We’ve been grinding, but that’s part of it, it’s part of the long season,” Stanton said. “Good to throw up that five-spot early.”

Stanton, who is hitting .293 with five homers and 15 RBIs in his past 12 games, knocked in a run in the first with a groundout and three in the second with his fourth homer in as many games, a 398-foot shot to rightfield.

“I’m putting good at-bats together,” said Stanton, whose homer gave the Yankees a 6-1 lead and the outfielder/DH 1,000 career RBIs.

Of that milestone, he said: “It’s very cool. It’s a nice round number. A couple of weeks ago, whenever, someone told me I was 10 away, so it’s cool to get it.”

DJ LeMahieu, who played for the Rockies from 2012-18, had three hits, including two doubles. Gleyber Torres had two hits, giving him five in the last two games.

Schmidt, who came in 4-6 with a 4.40 ERA but 3-2 with a 2.81 ERA in his previous 10 appearances (nine starts), allowed two runs, three hits and a walk in six innings-plus in which he struck out eight, tying a career high. Schmidt was pulled after allowing C.J. Cron’s leadoff homer in the seventh, but it still was a milestone of sorts — his first time pitching that deep into a game.

Schmidt smiled at that occurring at Coors Field, a wasteland for pitchers since it opened in 1995.

“That wasn’t on the radar at all,” he said. “You come in here and [the pitchers] are like, ‘We won’t want to pitch here’ and the hitters are like, ‘We can’t wait to hit here.’ So the narrative kind of builds itself up a little bit. But for me, I was just like, I’m going to go out there and throw strikes and whatever happens happens.”

With Nestor Cortes likely due back within the next two weeks, it’s all but certain that either Schmidt or the struggling Luis Severino will be sent to the bullpen. Schmidt, who has plenty of bullpen experience, has overwhelmingly outperformed Severino, who has openly talked during his career about how much he dislikes pitching in relief.

Wandy Peralta finished off the Rockies (35-58) in the seventh and Tommy Kahnle allowed a run in the eighth. It was the first run allowed by Kahnle in 17 games (16 1⁄3 innings) this season. His career-best streak of scoreless innings — 20 1⁄3 dating to last season — also came to an end.

Clay Holmes allowed a two-out single in the ninth but nothing else in recording his 11th save in 13 chances. He lowered his ERA to 0.66 in his last 27 appearances.

The Yankees had only two hits and no runs after the second inning Saturday night, just as they had gone 6-for-32 with no runs after the first two batters in Friday night’s 7-2 loss. It didn’t cost them this time.

What the club likely lost, at least for a little bit, is struggling third baseman Josh Donaldson, who Aaron Boone said afterward suffered a right calf injury while running to first on a groundout to short in the seventh. Donaldson, who will go for an MRI on Sunday, probably is headed for the injured list. “Wasn’t great,” Boone said of his initial impressions of the injury.

There was an odd moment before Kahnle threw a pitch in the eighth when a fan jumped onto the field in left and charged toward the infield in the direction of Volpe. As ballpark security brought the fan down hard on the grass, he tossed what appeared to be a T-shirt in Volpe’s direction.

“I was pretty startled by it all,” Volpe said with a smile. “It was my first [fan running on the field]. Nothing like that’s ever happened, but I thought stadium security did a really good job.”

Boone was startled as well. And a bit worried.

“Usually, it’s just some drunk idiot running out, having fun on a bet,” he said. “He looked like he was mad at something. Glad they were able to secure him and nothing major happened.”

By Erik Boland

erik.boland@newsday.comeboland11

Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.