Blackmon hits 2 HRs, Arenado drives in 3, Rockies beat Yanks
NEW YORK (AP) - Charlie Blackmon led off the game with a home run and later connected for another solo drive, Nolan Arenado hit his major league-leading 21st homer and the Colorado Rockies again roughed up the New York Yankees, 8-4 on Tuesday night.
A week after totaling 19 runs and 28 hits while sweeping a two-game series from New York at Coors Field, the Rockies came out swinging in their first visit to Yankee Stadium since 2011.
Arenado got three hits and drove in three runs, giving him an NL-leading 60 RBIs. Blackmon scored three times, and Carlos Gonzalez and DJ LeMahieu each got three of Colorado's 15 hits.
Rockies rookie Trevor Story added a double, along with one of the hardest hits of the night - he banged his face into the dirt on a headfirst slide while stealing second base, and stayed in after being examined by a trainer.
Story also struck out for the 100th time, most in the majors, in 273 at-bats.
The Yankees opened a nine-game homestand with their sixth loss in nine games.
Chad Bettis (6-5) beat Ivan Nova (5-5) for the second time in a week. Bettis gave up two earned runs, tied a career best with eight strikeouts and left with an 8-4 lead.
Blackmon began the hit parade by sending a drive high off the foul pole in right field, then got his 10th homer in the fourth. On Monday night at Miami, he homered in the ninth inning as the Rockies launched five solo home runs.
Blackmon has four leadoff home runs this season and four multihomer games in his career.
The Rockies scored three times on five hits in the first, with Carlos Gonzalez singling home a run and Mark Reynolds adding an RBI grounder.
Gonzalez doubled to start the fifth off Nova and Reynolds hit an RBI double off reliever Nick Goody a few batters later for a 6-2 lead.
Didi Gregorius hit an RBI triple in the Yankees sixth and fans booed when third base coach Joe Espada held him up, rather than letting him try for an inside-the-park home run. Gregorius cost himself the chance, too, with a slow turn around first while watching the play develop.
There was a moment of silence before the game for the shooting victims at a gay nightclub in Orlando earlier this month. Managers Joe Girardi of the Yankees and Walt Weiss of the Rockies placed a rainbow wreath over home plate as their teams gathered along the foul lines.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Rockies: OF Gerardo Parra (sprained left ankle) hit off a tee. He's still not ready for running drills.
Yankees: CF Jacoby Ellsbury was out of the lineup because of the stomach flu. ... 1B Mark Teixeira (torn knee cartilage) started a Triple-A rehab assignment, going 0 for 3 with a sacrifice fly. If he feels fine, he's expected to join the Yankees on Saturday.
UP NEXT
Rockies: RHP Jon Gray (4-3, 4.55) faces the Yankees on Wednesday afternoon. He hasn't given up more than two earned runs in five straight starts.
Yankees: LHP CC Sabathia (5-4, 2.20) has an 0.82 ERA in his last seven starts. He's the first Yankees pitcher to permit no more than four earned runs overall in a seven-start string since Phil Niekro in 1984.