For the second straight Sunday, the Colorado Rockies played in a rubber match against a top-tier team heading to the playoffs. This time, the results were different. This time, the American League-leading New York Yankees had split with the Rockies going into Sunday’s game. After the Rockies routed the Yankees 9-2 on Saturday in New York, the pin-striped teams upped the count with a 10-3 final in favor of the Yankees on Sunday.

With the offensively lethal lineup of the Yankees, fans were treated to a home run derby of sorts, with centerfielder Aaron Judge crushing his 50th and 51st homers of the season. The 2-3-4 batting order of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge, and Giancarlo Stanton also produced three consecutive home runs in the seventh inning. It was the second homer for Judge, and it occurred between the solo shots by Soto and Stanton. It marked the first time since Sept. 17, 2020 that the Yankees hit three straight homers.

Trailing by one run in the seventh inning, the Rockies were still in the game, 4-3. But pitching in his third major league game, Rockies right-hand pitcher Jeff Criswell was hit by the toughest order in significant league baseball, with the Yankees lineup hitting three straight homers.

“Criswell had problems with his location,” Black said. “The pitch to Soto was a high slider at the middle of the plate. [The fastball] was up on Judge, and the slider to Stanton was up. “I talked to Jeff, and I told him the ball up in the big leagues is going to come back to haunt you, especially the high-breaking ball. We saw two of those with the Soto homer and Stanton homer.”

Criswell, appearing in his third big league game, acknowledged that he had a tough outing. “It’s obviously unfortunate,” Criswell said. “But you have to keep your head up, stay in a good mindset and kind of push forward.”

Hitting his 50th home run, Aaron Judge joined Babe Ruth, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Alex Rodriguez as the only players with three 50-home run seasons. Ruth, McGwire, and Sosa had four 50-homer seasons. In contrast, Alex Rodriguez had two with the Texas Rangers and another for the Yankees in 2007.

“A great accomplishment but there’s still more to be done,” Judge said. “This team’s got a big mission in front of them and we’re all focused on that right now.” The Yankees hold the best record in the American League at 78 wins and 54 losses. The Dodgers in the NL West match the Yankees with 78 wins with 53 losses.

The Rockies return home for a seven-game home stand, starting with the Miami Marlins for four straight games. The Rockies only lead one team in the National League with a 49-83 record. The Marlins travel to Denver with a 47-84 record, last in the NL.

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