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.¡±