Schlittler Deals 10 Ks, Ramos Bombs 402-Footer to Sink Colorado

Cam Schlittler was nearly untouchable, striking out 10 over 7.0 innings while allowing just 1 earned run as the Yankees beat the Rockies 5-3 on September 8. Heliot Ramos then put the game away with a 402-foot, three-run shot to center in the eighth that turned a tight contest into a comfortable lead.

The Yankees drew first blood in the first inning when García Jr. singled to left and Bellinger scored on a throwing error by Colorado's left fielder, with García Jr. advancing all the way to third. Colorado answered in the third — Adael Amador launched a 385-foot solo shot to right center to knot it at 1-1, a reminder that the Rockies weren't going to roll over. But New York retook the lead in the fifth when McMahon doubled to right and Lombard Jr. scored, pushing the Yankees back in front 2-1. That double was the decisive momentum shift of the night: the home win probability swung from 74% to 85% on that single swing of the bat.

Then came the eighth, and Ramos made it a rout. His 402-foot three-run homer to center — scoring Rice and Bellinger — blew the game open at 5-1 and effectively ended Colorado's realistic path back. Ramos finished 1-for-1 with 3 RBI and a run scored, the kind of line that looks almost unfair in its efficiency. Bellinger, meanwhile, crossed the plate twice and went 1-for-4, quietly doing the work that doesn't always show up in the highlight reel.

Colorado made it interesting in the ninth. Hunter Goodman hit a 347-foot homer to right that scored Rumfield and pulled the Rockies within 5-3, and the story of the night was almost complicated — but Schlittler's earlier dominance had already done too much damage for a two-run ninth to matter. Schlittler's final line — 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 10 K — looks like one of the cleaner starts you'll see this late in a September. Gabriel Hughes gave Colorado a respectable 5.0 innings with 6 strikeouts and 1 earned run, but the Yankees' bullpen locked it down from there, with Brent Headrick tossing a clean inning with 2 punchouts to close it out. Final: NYY 5, COL 3.