NEW YORK — Yankees starting pitcher Marcus Stroman’s first inning was a long one, 31 pitches, and included third baseman Jazz Chisholm making a bad throw to first for an error and then booting a routine groundball for another.
The Rockies scored a run and had some early momentum in the rubber game of a weekend series between an AL East have and NL West have-not.
A half-inning later, it was back the other way courtesy of the Yankees’ superhuman slugger.
Rockies starter Drew Romo walked Yankees leadoff hitter Gleyber Torres on five pitches, Juan Soto flied out to center and then Aaron Judge came up a golfed one into the seats behind the left-center-field wall for No. 50 and a 2-1 Yankees lead.
Judge later homered again and the Yankees wound up winning 10-3.
Judge’s first homer was historic. He’s now reached the 50-homer plateau three times counting his 52 as a rookie in 2017 and record 62 in 2022. Only four others have achieved this feat: Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire and Sammy Soto hit 50 four times apiece and Alex Rodriguez reached 50 three times.
With Rockies rookie reliever Jeff Criswell pitching his fourth big-league game, Juan Soto started the homer barrage with a one-out blast to right-center, his 37th. Judge then hit his second of the afternoon, seventh homer in his last six games and ninth in his last 10. He’s now on a pace to break his record with 63.
Giancarlo Stanton followed Judge’s second homer with a line-drive homer to center for his third in three games, his 23rd for the season and the Yankees’ first back-to-back-to-back homers since September 2020.
Gleyber Torres added a three-run homer in the eighth inning, his 11th.
This Yankees’ series win included a scary moment in the home fifth when home-plate umpire Nick Mahrley was struck in the throat by half of Stanton’s bat, which snapped in two on a bloop hit to left field.
The ump was down on the ground for six minutes before helped onto a stretcher and carted off the field en route to a local hospital.
After a 16-man delay, the game resumed with crew chief Marvin Hudson moving from first base to finish the game behind the plate.
Stroman’s shaky first inning was a sign of things to come. After two good starts that were big improvement from a rough stretch, the right gutted his way through a three-run, five-inning outing.
The Yankees’ bullpen had a good day working four scoreless and hitless innings.
Tommy Kahnle worked 1.1 scoreless innings with the Yankees ahead 4-3, Jake Cousins got the final two outs of the seventh, Luke Weaver pitched the eighth and Clay Holmes closed out the Rockies in the ninth.
NOTABLE
— DJ LeMahieu was 2-for-4 playing first base and hitting ninth in his first game since he was scratched from Friday’s game after being struck in the right cheek during batting practice while doing infield drills. He entered the day in a 2-for-19 slump and batting .189.
— Left fielder Alex Verdugo was 2-for-4 and is 3-for-7 in his last two games after entering Saturday in a 1-for-33 slump.
— Anthony Rizzo (right forearm fracture) was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts Sunday playing his second rehab game with the Double-A Somerset Patriots in Portland. DHing both games, he was 0-for-1 with two walks on Friday.
— Making his second rehab start for Somerset, right-hander Cody Poteet (right triceps strain) allowed one run over 3.2 innings in a 44-pitch outing. He’s not eligible to come off the 60-day injured list until Sept. 14.
— Reliever Lou Trivino (May 2023 Tommy John surgery) and infielder Jon Berti (left calf strain) also played for Somerset. Trivino pitched a 1-2-3 fifth inning with two strikeouts in his fifth and maybe last rehab outing before returning to the majors, while Berti was 0-for-2 with two strikeouts playing third base for three innings.
— Reliever Michael Tonkin was designated for assignment before the game and replaced on the Yankees’ 26-man roster by reliever Phil Bickford, who was called up from Triple-A for the second time this season.