NEW YORK — The curtain call belonged to Anthony Volpe. Recalled from Triple-A only because Jazz Chisholm Jr. hurt his thumb, the Yankees infielder returned to Yankee Stadium on Thursday night and put on a show. He drove in five runs, capped by a seventh-inning grand slam that cleared the right-field porch and sent the crowd into a roar.
The Yankees hammered the Rockies 10-3 to complete a three-game sweep. It was New York’s 13th game of 10 or more runs this season, the most in the American League. The offense did the damage without Aaron Judge, who sat for a scheduled recovery day and never left the bench.
On the surface, it was a statement. The Yankees moved to 84-62 and, with Tampa Bay losing to Atlanta, pulled within three games of the Rays in the AL East. They also hold a comfortable wild-card cushion. A rout of a last-place club, on a night the lineup did not need its captain, looked like a team rounding into form.
How the Yankees built the rout
The Yankees jumped Rockies starter Ryan Feltner in the first. Ben Rice led off with a single, moved to third on a wild pitch and a groundout, and waited on two outs.
Luis Garcia Jr. started the scoring against Colorado with a 413-foot, two-run homer in the first, his 30th of the season. He drove a two-run shot off the top of the center-field wall for a quick 2-0 lead.
Colorado answered immediately. After Fried retired the first two hitters in the second, Kyle Karros pulled a solo homer to left to make it 2-1. It was the only run the Rockies would manage off the Yankees starter.
New York took the lead back in the bottom of the frame. Ryan McMahon singled and Austin Wells walked to open the inning, bringing up Volpe. In his first at-bat since being recalled, Volpe worked a long count and lined an RBI single to left, then stole third. Cody Bellinger followed with a sacrifice fly, and the Yankees led 4-1.
The score held there until the seventh, when the Yankees broke it open. Bellinger doubled and Jasson Dominguez walked to start the inning, and both moved up on stolen bases. Jones lined a two-run single to center, then McMahon and Wells drew walks to load the bases with two outs and turn the order back to Volpe.
Spencer Jones matched a career high with three hits and drove in two during a six-run seventh. Volpe, batting ninth in his first big league game at second base, collected three hits and the biggest swing of the night.
Volpe fought off a sinker and muscled it into the right-field seats for a grand slam, a 10-2 lead and a curtain call from the Yankee Stadium crowd. The six-run inning turned a tidy win into a blowout and finished the sweep.
The number buried in a lopsided box score
Max Fried allowed one run and one hit and struck out seven. The run prevention was not the problem. The problem was how hard he had to work to get there. Fried needed 80 pitches to record just 10 outs, throwing only 48 for strikes, and Yankees manager Aaron Boone pulled him with two outs in the fourth.
That inefficiency matters because of the calendar. Fried is still rebuilding after a second stint on the injured list for a left elbow bone bruise. Thursday was only his third start back. He has been on a careful pitch count, throwing 63 against the Red Sox on Aug. 29 and 72 against the Padres on Sept. 4 before Thursday’s 80.
The Yankees are running short on runway. Their projected postseason rotation leans on Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole and Fried, with Carlos Rodon also in the mix. To trust Fried in October, they need him both sharp and stretched out, and Thursday showed he is not yet either.
Excellent results, an uneasy process
Fried’s bottom-line numbers remain strong. Since returning from the injured list, he owns a 2.13 ERA over 12 2/3 innings, and he has held opponents to modest damage in each start. By results, he looks like a front-line arm.
The underlying signs told a different story. Fried ran six three-ball counts against a Rockies lineup that entered the night 55-91, an uncharacteristic lack of command for one of the game’s steadiest left-handers. Kyle Karros took him deep in the second inning, the only blemish on his line but a symptom of the deep counts.
Fried did not hide from the issue. Sitting near the dugout railing afterward, he described an outing that got away from him despite the tidy line.
“It was kind of a weird outing,” Fried said. “I was executing in certain counts, but I also had a lot of really bad misses, which caused a lot of deep counts. Obviously, only going 80 pitches and not getting through four is not ideal. I didn’t want to put the bullpen in that position, but they did a great job picking me up.”
Boone saw the same disconnect between the swing-and-miss stuff and the shaky command.
“Tonight was a bit of a grind,” Boone said. “He had the swing-and-miss going. I think he was just kind of in and out of his delivery a little bit when he was trying to add or reach for it. He’d kind of spray one.”
A plan Yankees will not rush
The Yankees have made clear they will not sacrifice Fried’s health to chase innings now. He has been winless since April 27, but the record is beside the point. The goal is a healthy, built-up starter for the games that decide seasons.
Fried framed the balance himself, acknowledging the pull between wanting to be ready immediately and trusting the ramp-up the club has designed.
“We’re looking forward to having me completely built up for the end of the season into the playoffs,” Fried said. “They’ve had a plan. As much as I would love to fast-forward the plan and just say, ‘Let’s throw it all out the window,’ we’ve got a lot of really smart people that work really hard here to try to make sure that I’m going to be healthy for when it matters most.”
The Yankees bullpen made the concern manageable Thursday. Relievers covered 5 2/3 innings and allowed just two runs, one earned, behind Fried. Michael Fulmer, John Schreiber and Ryan Yarbrough bridged the middle, and Luis Gil, working in a new relief role, escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to close it out.
A sweep that sharpened the AL East race
The sweep, paired with Tampa Bay’s 3-1 loss to the Braves, trimmed New York’s division deficit to three games with 16 to play.
Still, the win did not answer the question that will define the Yankees‘ October. The lineup can carry a September night against a weak opponent. A short postseason series is a different test, and it will fall largely on a Yankees rotation that still needs Fried to be whole.
The Yankees turn next to the Mets in a Subway Series opener Friday, the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, with Rodon set to face rookie Nolan McLean. Fried will get at least one more tuneup before October. How far he can build in the time left may matter more than any blowout.
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