Ex-Yankee farmhand Cave lights up scoreboard as visitor to Bronx

NEW YORK -- Right fielder Jake Cave was once a member of the Yankees’ organization, which selected him in the sixth round of the 2011 MLB Draft. He never played a Major League game until after New York traded him to the Twins in ‘18 for right-hander Luis Gil.

Cave, 31, has fond memories of his time in the Yankees’ organization. He played with Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres in the Minor Leagues, while current New York hitting coach James Rowson was Cave’s first offensive coordinator.

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium. Now a member of the Rockies, Cave found himself in the starting lineup for the first time since a week earlier against the Padres. He had a game to remember, collecting four hits and finishing a triple shy of the cycle in a 9-2 victory over the Yankees.

“Jake has been good all year,” Rockies manager Bud Black said. “He was a great recommendation by [assistant hitting coach] P.J. Pilittere right at the end of Spring Training. He had him with the Yankees, and P.J. strongly recommended Jake to our front office. He has delivered. He has been a big part of when we win games, it seems like.”

Cave’s first hit played a role in the Rockies’ second run of the game in the second inning off Yankees right-hander Will Warren. With no outs and Michael Toglia on first, Cave doubled to right field to put runners on second and third. Nolan Jones followed with a sacrifice fly that scored Toglia, giving Colorado a 2-0 lead.

An inning later, Colorado had its way with Warren by scoring four runs to increase its lead to 6-0. Brenton Doyle and Cave had RBI singles, while Jones had a two-run double.

After Toglia homered off Mark Leiter Jr. in the fifth, Cave added on with a two-run homer off right-hander Michael Tonkin in the seventh. As Cave was running the bases, teammate Ryan McMahon was playfully screaming, “This guy was on the bench for eight days!”

Cave had a chance for the triple in the ninth inning against right-hander Tommy Kahnle, but he fanned for the first out in the inning.

“That would have been awesome. Not too long ago against the Diamondbacks [on Aug. 12], I almost hit for the cycle. I needed a homer for the cycle,” Cave remembered. “It’s just one of those things where it would be a product of me doing everything I want to do right at the plate. … It would have been super cool, but four hits will do.”

Cave has a chance to top his career high of 283 at-bats, set in his rookie season of 2018; he has 256 with 32 games left in the season. He already has played in a career-high 101 games.

“It’s the one [season] I will remember the most because I’m currently playing it,” Cave said. “I have to rank it as my favorite. I’m given a chance to get the most at-bats in my career. I’m producing really well. I have a chance to, hopefully, leave an impact on some younger guys around here. Who knows? I want to keep playing. We’ll see what happens.”

Cave wants to play baseball until someone tells him to take the uniform off.

“I feel like I’m as good as I’ve ever been,” Cave said. “I feel physically great. My swing feels really good. I feel like I’m playing a really good outfield. I’ve been trying to stay consistent with my routine. I just tell myself over and over again, ‘I’ve done this before.’ … I wanted to compete, and today was one of those days that I showed that if you go with a competitive mindset, you get that success.”