Aaron Judge, surging Yankees face reeling Rockies

Coors Field has not been a safe haven for the Colorado Rockies, and it isn’t going to get any easier this weekend.

Colorado was swept by the Philadelphia Phillies in a four-game home series and now will face another first-place team — the American League East-leading New York Yankees — in a three-game series starting Friday night in Denver.

New York will send right-hander Clarke Schmidt (1-1, 4.41 ERA) to the mound while the Rockies have yet to name a starter. Rookie right-hander Chase Dollander initially was scheduled to start but was placed on the 15-day injured list with right forearm tightness.

Schmidt, who missed his first start of the season with right rotator cuff tendinitis, has tossed at least six innings in each of his last three starts. He won his lone start against Colorado, allowing two runs on three hits in six innings at Coors Field on July 15, 2023.

The Yankees come to Denver on a four-game winning streak and have won 11 of their last 14 games overall, including 1-0 over Texas on Thursday. Aaron Judge is flirting with a .400 batting average (.396), but New York has other players providing offense.

One is 22-year-old Jasson Dominguez, who hit a walk-off homer in Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the Rangers. He’s hitting .236 with six home runs and 22 RBIs in 41 games this season, and his poise has impressed manager Aaron Boone.

“He’s just not affected by great results or a struggling day. It just kind of puts a smile on his face, goes to work and likes playing the game with his teammates,” Boone said. “He’s real easy and fun to be around. He’s got a good outlook on things. But you’re really starting to see just how good a talent (he is). You see the speed. You see the power.”

The Rockies are trying to break out of a season-long slump that has them on pace for an unwanted place in history. Colorado is 8-42, the worst start to a season in the modern era.

Colorado’s 2-0 loss to Philadelphia on Thursday marked the seventh time this season the team has been shut out. The Rockies are 5-20 at home and were outscored 27-12 in the four games against the Phillies.

The Rockies, who have lost five games in a row overall, changed managers 10 games ago, but the move hasn’t altered their fortunes. They are 1-9 under interim manager Warren Schaeffer, who is positive and realistic about the team’s standing.

“We are in a very unique situation at the moment. And for me, opportunity abounds in the situation we’re in,” Schaeffer said. “And if we don’t look at it like that, shame on us. We could take this moment that we’re in right now and look back three years from now and say, ‘Boy, we used that the right way to move forward.’

“But if we’re going to commiserate and wallow in it, that’s no way for a man to act, and that’s no way for a group of players, and just a group of people, to act if you want to move forward.”

–Field Level Media