About Last Night: Yankees 5, Rockies 3

By Derek McAdam

September 9, 2026

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The New York Yankees defeated the Colorado Rockies last night, improving to 82-62 on the season and giving them 34 consecutive seasons of having a winning record. Here’s a quick recap of last night’s game.

Quick Stats: W: Cam Schlittler (13-6): 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 10 K

                     L: Gabriel Hughes (0-7): 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 ER), 6 K

                     S: David Bednar (32): 0.1 IP, 1 K

HRs: COL: Adael Amador (3), Hunter Goodman (37)  NYY: Heliot Ramos (11)

The Big Story: The Yankees were coming off a west coast road trip in Anaheim and San Diego, going 3-3 over the six games. And on Monday, the Yankees announced that Aaron Judge, who had not appeared in a game since late May, was activated off the Injured List. Last night, he was hitting 3rd in the lineup and playing right field.

The Yankees continue to watch the Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox for seeding purposes as to who takes the AL East and (presumably) the top two Wild Card spots. But the Yankees were sending their ace to the mound in hopes of getting the series off on the right foot, especially after dropping two out of three games this past weekend in San Diego. Cam Schlittler was coming off a fantastic start against the Angels, and was looking to follow up again last night.

In his first at-bat since his return from the IL, Judge put a good swing on a ball, but fouled it off and ultimately struck out. In the 1st, the Yankees opened up the scoring with one of the strangest plays I’ve seen in a long time on a Major League field. With two outs and Cody Bellinger on first, Luis Garcia Jr. ripped a single into left-center field, which was booted by Jake McCarthy, allowing both runners to advance. As he threw the ball in, catcher Hunter Goodman was not paying attention, which allowed the ball to go to the backstop and bring Bellinger home for a 1-0 lead.

In the 3rd, the Rockies got on the board when Amador squared up on a Schlittler pitch up and in, sending the ball into the right-center field seats to tie the game at 1-1.

Both starters were rolling through the first four innings comfortably until the 5th. With one out, George Lombard Jr. ripped a single up the middle. The next batter, Ryan McMahon, hit an RBI double down the right-field line to score Lombard from first and give the Yankees a 2-1 lead.

Hughes was replaced following the 5th inning, although he did not pitch that poorly. And while he was only at 79 pitches, it definitely seems as if he had another inning left in him.

Judge managed to get a couple more at-bats in during last night’s game, flying out to right-center field in his second at-bat before he struck out looking on a full-count in the 6th. Although he did not record a hit, he managed to work the count in each at-bat.

Brent Headrick came on to pitch the 8th after Schlittler gave the Yankees seven strong innings and sent the Rockies down in order 1-2-3. In the bottom of the inning, the Yankees had an opportunity to add some additional runs after Ben Rice walked and Bellinger doubled to put runners on second and third with no one out. Ramos came to the plate after subbing in for Judge in right to begin the 7th and hit a three-run home run to give the Yankees a 5-1 lead.

Tim Hill came in to pitch the 9th in a non-save situation to try and record to final three outs for the Yankees to secure their 82nd win of the season. But with two outs, Hill walked a batter and then gave up a two-run home run to Goodman to keep the game alive and cut the Yankees lead to 5-3. David Bednar was then brought in for a save situation in hopes of recording to final out, and struck out Mickey Moniak on three pitches to end the game.

Player of the Game: Cam Schlittler gave another great performance last night and just continues to impress as he works closer to earning his first (of hopefully many) Cy Young Awards.

Notable Performances: Ramos delivered a big home run in the 8th that was ultimately the deciding factor in last night’s game. Garcia and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each had multi-hit nights for the Yankees and Bellinger was also responsible for scoring two of the five runs.

Better to Forget: Spencer Jones struck out three times at the plate, although he was fairly active in center field and did just fine there. After all, he does have to get used to his new 6’7 partner in right field.

My Take: The Yankees were in need of a win last night, and they delivered, once again being led by solid pitching. Schlittler delivered yet another gem of a game and definitely seems as if he is making his way to a Cy Young Award. Because of the combination of solid pitching recently and the off-day on Monday, the Yankee bullpen is pretty well-rested, which is going to come in extremely handy down this last stretch of the regular season before the playoffs.

And while the Yankees got the first 26 outs with relative ease, the last out was a struggle for Hill. And to make things worse, Aaron Boone certainly did not want to use his closer when he had a four-run lead going into the inning. Ramos’ three-run shot in the 8th was definitely a much bigger hit now that this situation happened, although Bednar would have come on to pitch the 9th if the score was 2-1. Nonetheless, Bednar got the save and secured the Yankee win.

But the big news for the Yankees was the return of the Captain. He didn’t have great success at the plate, but he managed to work counts all three times. I’m not so worried that he didn’t get a hit or get on base. He was able to see live pitching and get a feel for the game again. It’s going to take him a few games to get back up to speed in that area. He also didn't see much action in right field through six innings, which is fine. Again, I just want him to get a feel for things again and take everything slowly.

Overall, this was a solid win for the Yankees and a great way to start off the six-game home stand. While they will be paying attention to both Tampa Bay and Boston, the best thing they can do is worry about winning their own games. The Yankees don’t face Boston any more during the regular season, but they do host the Rays for four games at Yankee Stadium in a couple of weeks. Until then, their focus should be to just win games each day and hope that they can continue gaining a lead on Boston and work to overtake Tampa Bay for first in the AL East.

As for now, the focus for tonight should be to go get a series win. This is definitely a series the Yankees would like a sweep in, especially since the New York Mets come across town this weekend. And the Yankees cannot underestimate the Mets, as they’ve been one of the hottest teams in MLB since the All-Star Break. But look at me not taking my own advice and getting ahead of myself.

Let’s just get the series victory tonight. Maybe we can see Judge at least get a hit, as long as he is in the lineup, which I fully expect to see.

What’s Next?: These two teams will be back in action tonight for the second of this three-game series. Tomoyuki Sugano is scheduled to start for the Rockies, while Max Fried is slated to take the mound for the Yankees. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. from Yankee Stadium.