The Yankees arrived at Game 145 of the season having crushed 194 home runs, good for the fourth most in the majors, despite missing Aaron Judge for three months.
And yet, somewhat inexplicably, none of those 194 blasts had come with the bases loaded.
George Lombard Jr. changed that Wednesday night, delivering the kind of juice that typically comes with grand slams as the Yankees’ first of the season gave way to a 6-1 win over the Rockies in The Bronx.
“Hopefully they come in bunches,” manager Aaron Boone said with a grin.
Judge, in his second game back from an extended stay on the injured list for a broken rib, recorded a pair of singles, one of which started the rally that led to Lombard’s first career grand slam in the third inning.
He played eight innings in right field before getting pinch run for in the bottom of the eighth as the Yankees (83-62) continue to build him up carefully while trying to chase down the division, remaining four games back of the Rays with 17 games to play while moving to four games clear of the Red Sox for the top AL wild card.
Luis García Jr. and Cody Bellinger added solo shots — the latter ensuring David Bednar did not have to pitch the ninth inning — as the Yankees improved to a season-hight 21 games above .500 on a day that began with news that Jazz Chisholm Jr. would require a stint on the injured list due to a right thumb sprain.
Will Warren pitched well again, holding the Rockies (55-90) to one run across six innings while striking out eight. It came five days after Warren tossed 2 ¹/₃ scoreless innings of relief against the Padres — offering a preview of what may be to come in the postseason before he returned to a starting role on Wednesday with an uptick in velocity for a third straight outing.
Lombard became the second-youngest Yankee to hit a grand slam at 21 years and 99 days — only older than Mickey Mantle (who did it twice as a 20-year-old in 1952) — marking the latest feat for the shortstop who has continued to impress the organization both on and off the field.
“He’s young, but he carries himself like he’s been around for a long time,” Warren said. “The stuff that nobody really sees — grinding beforehand, and stuff like that — but even when he has a bad go, he’s professional about it and keeps going about his business. Like tonight, the grand slam to basically seal it off for us.”
Lombard has now been a big leaguer for just over a month, and while that included a six-game error streak and missing a series last week with a knee injury, he has calmly continued to make an impact.
“Just his maturity [stands out],” Boone said. “Physical kid, talented, I think he’s going to be a really good player in this league for a long time. But right now, it’s just his maturity. Doesn’t seem to speed up for him. He handles success and failures within the game, which you’re always going to have every single night, maturely.
“I feel like he’s found his rhythm, found his routine and he’s right in the middle of what we’re doing.”
In an odd outing, Rockies right-hander Tomoyuki Sugano retired the Yankees in order in four of his six innings.
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But in the other two, they made him pay, first on García’s leadoff home run in the second inning.
In the third, Judge came up with two outs and worked an eight-pitch at-bat that ended in a soft line drive to left, which García followed with a double and Spencer Jones an eight-pitch walk to load the bases.
Lombard then got a 1-0 slider down the middle and took it the other way into the short porch for the grand slam, his third career home run and the 5-0 lead.
In the process, he got the Yankees off the schneid as they threatened to become the first team in franchise history without a grand slam since 1990.
“It’s a big swing to put us in front and give us a good lead,” Lombard said. “[Sugano] has got a bunch of different pitches and gets a lot of weak contact, so just looking for something in the middle of the zone that I could drive.”
