Yankees somehow lose to pitiful Rockies

DENVER — The Yankees entered the night one of baseball’s hottest teams, having won five straight series and 11 of their last 14 games, including four straight.

The Rockies came in something else altogether — a dysfunctional mess that could be boiled down to this: After getting swept in four games earlier in the week by the Phillies — who had 50 hits in that series — they were on pace to lose 136 games.

Naturally, the Yankees lost the series opener, 3-2, in front of 47,211 at Coors Field, and if one listened closely enough, he or she could hear the retired John Sterling from his home in New Jersey: “That’s baseball, Suzyn.”

A Yankees team leading MLB in homers, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, extra-base hits, walks and OPS was mostly held down by a pitching staff with an MLB-worst 5.92 ERA.

“They beat us tonight,” Aaron Boone said. “We caught the ball, we made the plays, we gave ourselves a couple of opportunities to score some runs. We didn’t get the big hit tonight. That’s going to happen. Give them credit. They shut us down in some big spots.”

Rockies righthander Tanner Gordon, making only his second start of 2025 and brought up earlier in the day from the minor leagues, allowed two runs, five hits and two walks in six innings.

Clarke Schmidt, whose pitch count was driven up early (he was at 58 pitches through three innings), was charged with three runs and allowed six hits and two walks in 4 2⁄3 innings in which he struck out eight. Lefthander Tim Hill allowed two of Schmidt’s runners to score in the fifth when he gave up a two-out, two-run double by lefty-swinging Ryan McMahon.

“I was thinking down and in,” Hill said of the pitch McMahon hit off the top of the centerfield wall, missing a home run by inches. “At the end of the day, he put a good swing on it.”

Of losing to the Rockies (9-42), who are one victory from earning their first series win of the season, Hill said that doesn’t make it any worse.

“Those guys are professionals, just the same,” Hill said. “Just losing a game in general is never good, especially when you have such a big part in it.”

Schmidt said he was “crippled” by having to abandon his sinker in the early going because of the altitude here and its effect on the pitch. As a result, he had to rely more on his cutter and slider — which he did not use as an excuse for not going deeper. “I just didn’t do my job tonight,” he said.

Schmidt echoed Hill when it came to the loss, saying it stings regardless of the opponent. “We’re all competitors in here,” he said. “Any time you lose, we’re [ticked] off.”

Aaron Judge, playing his first career game at Coors Field, went 2-for-4, including his 17th homer, tied with the Mariners’ Cal Raleigh for the American League lead. Judge is hitting .398 with a 1.241 OPS.

The blast to leftfield, which gave Judge a home run in each of the 30 in-use ballparks, put the Yankees (30-20) ahead 2-1 in the fifth, but they did not record a hit thereafter and produced only two baserunners.

After Trent Grisham walked to lead off the eighth, Judge grounded into a 6-3 double play.

Paul Goldschmidt, who tripled in a run in the first, worked a one-out walk in the ninth against Zach Agnos. Anthony Volpe grounded to third to move him to second, but Austin Wells lined out softly to short to end it.

“I thought our focus was good, our conversations were right,” Boone said of his team’s mentality entering Friday. “We didn’t get a big hit to break open an inning or whatever. But it’s going to happen.”

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.