By LARRY FLEISHER
NEW YORK — Jake Cave had four hits and three RBIs and fell a triple shy of hitting for the cycle as the Colorado Rockies beat the New York Yankees 9-2 on Saturday.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who leads the MLB with 49 homers, went 0 for 2 with a walk and had his consecutive game home run streak halted at four. Judge grounded into a force out in the first inning, flew out in the third, walked in the fifth and was hit by a pitch in the eighth, ending his bid — at least temporarily — to hit 50 homers for the third time in his nine-year career.
Cave doubled in the second inning and had an RBI single in a four-run third when the Rockies capitalized on two balks by rookie starter Will Warren (0-2) and a catcher’s interference by Austin Wells.
After singling in the fifth, Cave homered in the seventh to give the Rockies a 9-2 lead. It was the first career four-hit game for the 31-year-old Cave, who was traded by the Yankees to the Minnesota Twins in March 2018 for Luis Gil.
Nolan Jones also drove in three runs as the Rockies snapped a six-game road losing streak and avoided their 50th road loss.
In his fourth game back from missing over a month with a strained lower back, Jones hit a two-run double to cap the third inning.
Michael Toglia reached on the catcher’s interference, homered and reached four base four times.
Ryan McMahon, Brenton Doyle added RBI singles as the Rockies collected 13 hits and had their second-highest run total in a road game this season.
Rookie starter Bradley Blalock (1-0) retired Judge twice and allowed two runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings for his first career victory.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit an RBI double and Alex Verdugo snapped an 0-for-21 skid with his first homer since July 6 as the Yankees had their three-game winning streak halted on the day they honored their 2009 championship team in their annual Old-Timers’ Day ceremony.
Warren allowed six runs, five earned, and seven hits in three innings.
After Ezequiel Tovar started the third with a double, Warren was charged with his first balk by plate umpire John Tumpane. Tovar scored on a single by Doyle, who was balked to second during an at-bat by McMahon.
Toglia reached when Wells was cited for interference on a foul ball, Cave singled and Jones doubled to left-center field for a 6-0 lead.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: 1B DJ LeMahieu was feeling better and passed the concussion protocol after being hit in the face by a ball taking grounders at first base before Friday’s game. … INF Jon Berti (strained left calf) and RHP Ian Hamilton (strained right lat) were slated to start rehab assignments with Double-A Somerset Saturday night.
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UP NEXT
Rockies: LHP Austin Gomber (4-8, 4.64 ERA) opposes New York RHP Marcus Stroman (8-6, 3.82) on Sunday.
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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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