NEW YORK _ There's no way to look at the Yankees' just-completed 10-game homestand as anything but a success, despite it concluding with Sunday's 8-4 loss to the Rockies at steamy Yankee Stadium. The Yanks won seven of 10, rediscovered their offense with 42 runs over the last six games and got to sample the rare air of having the best record in baseball.
And yet with just 3.1 innings of work, James Paxton managed to put the Yankees back in the place where the homestand started when the All-Star break was over: looking like it needs a pitcher to make the starting rotation more dependable.
Paxton looked like he might be shaking off a burgeoning rep as the rotation's biggest enigma with three solid starts in a row � allowing a total of five runs over 18 innings � but he was hit hard over an outing that began with Charlie Blackmon taking his second pitch over the wall in right centerfield.
He was charged with seven runs � four earned � on five hits and three walks. His six strikeouts speak to the unevenness of the performance.
General manager Brian Cashman's stated quest to upgrade the pitching staff was front-and-center for the Yankees coming out of the All-Star break. The rotation � Paxton included � seemed to be making a case that it's just fine with some strong pitching since the break. In the first nine games of the second half � which led into Sunday's contest � the starting rotation was 5-1 with a 3.42 ERA that ranked third best over that stretch in the American League.
"I feel like our rotation has been underappreciated all year," manager Aaron Boone said Sunday, shortly before first pitch. "Obviously people talk about our offense and the great players, contributors we've had in our lineup this year and they talk about our bullpen a lot � rightfully so � but the starters have put us in this position. They have by and large given us a chance to win games every single day."
That wasn't so much the case with Paxton as the Rockies began their second turn through the lineup.
The Yankees actually evened things at 1-1 in the bottom of the first when DJ LeMahieu his Colorado starter German Marquez' first pitch over the wall in right, but things turned the Rockies way against Paxton in the third inning.
Paxton walked Chris Ianetta and then first baseman Luke Voit misplayed Tony Wolters' sacrifice bunt for an error that put two aboard with none out. Blackmon ripped a single to left to load the bases and Nolan Arenado untied the game with a long two-run double into the leftfield corner. David Dahl's two-out two-run single to centerfield put Colorado up 5-1.
Though Chad Green had warmed up in the Yankees bullpen late in Paxton's 33-pitch third inning, the lefthander was back on the mound to start the fourth. He walked Ianetta to start it and then allowed a one-out single to Blackmon before Boone made the move for Green.
Trevor Story hit Green's third pitch over centerfielder Aaron Hicks head and it bounced into Monument Park for a two-run double that made Colorado's lead 7-1.
Mike Tauchman hit a solo homer in the fifth to cut the margin to 7-2 and Aaron Hicks hit a two-run home run in the eighth to make it 8-4, but that was as close as the Yankees would get.
