NEW YORK _ Thursday, Aaron Boone did the talking.
Friday, the parrot did the walking.
With their manager suspended one game due to an umpire altercation in the series finale against Tampa Bay, the Yankees opened their weekend set against the Rockies with an 8-2 victory sparked by an Edwin Encarnacion grand slam.
Bench coach Josh Bard is now 1-1 filling in for a suspended Boone, having done the same in an 11-7 loss to the Tigers last Sept. 2.
Yankee players pointed to Boone's ejection _ and subsequent confrontation with umpire Brennan Miller _ as a rallying point in Thursday's doubleheader sweep.
Encarnacion's 12th career grand slam had a similar effect versus Colorado, erasing a 2-0 deficit in the third. The designated hitter's home run trot, which mimics carrying a parrot on his right arm around the bases, has endeared fans in the Bronx as much as his eight round-trippers in pinstripes.
As a team, the Yankees are batting .415 (34-for-81) with the bases loaded this season and have launched five grand slams.
And of course, a trio of ex-Rockies had to chip in contributions when facing their former teammates for the first time.
DJ LeMahieu and Adam Ottavino spent a combined 14 seasons in Denver before signing with the Yankees as free agents last winter.
LeMahieu scored two runs and twice drove in Mike Tauchman, who was traded from Colorado to New York in March.
Tauchman (3 for 4, double) had the first of two Yankee outfield assists when he threw out Garrett Hampson trying to score on a sac fly, ending the top of the second. Aaron Judge nabbed Nolan Arenado overrunning second base an inning later before adding his 11th home run of the season in the sixth.
Ottavino relieved a hot-and-cold J.A. Happ (eight hits allowed, eight strikeouts) in the sixth and struck out the side. Stephen Tarpley saved the bullpen from further use with three innings of one-hit ball to close it out.
