SAN FRANCISCO — The Yankees are known for the long ball and boasting the best hitter in the game.
They got neither a home run nor anything from Aaron Judge, but still got plenty from a deep lineup to take down Giants ace Logan Webb and secure their fifth straight win on Opening Day.
In a span of 10 pitches in the top of the second inning, the Yankees went from having no one on to leading by five runs, an instant rally that, along with a strong outing from Max Fried, fueled a 7-0 win over the Giants at a packed and picturesque Oracle Park.
“Just trusting one another and keep the line moving,” said José Caballero, who drove in the first run of the night. “That’s the main idea, and we have a pretty good lineup that can do this very often.”
When the Yankees were charged with running it back this offseason, perhaps there should have been more emphasis on the “run” — as in returning the same lineup that led the majors in runs last year. They got a head start on defending that feat Wednesday night, even on a night when Judge — the only starter without a hit — went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts.
“One through nine can beat you,” said Fried, who tossed 6 ¹/₃ shutout innings despite not having his best command. “We obviously have the best player in the world hitting for us, but we also have a lot of guys being able to support him. It’s a team game and we just want to go out there and do what we can to win every single game that we can.”
Fried, who survived a rocky first inning, settled in once he was given a 5-0 lead to work with and cruised the rest of the way. The left-hander retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced, getting better as the night progressed. He reprised his role as the Yankees ace while they await the return of Gerrit Cole.
The Yankees still have 161 games to go — and, they hope, October on top of that — to prove that doubling down on their roster was the right call after flaming out in the ALDS last year. But at least for Game 1, they used a familiar formula — a 10-hit attack and even stronger starting pitching — to get their season off on the right foot.
“We’ve got a lot to prove,” manager Aaron Boone said. “We’re confident. I know they’re confident in their ability to have good at-bats and put up runs, but we’re one game into this thing and we’ve still got a long way to go to prove that. I think we have a chance to do that.”
Webb retired the first four batters he faced before Giancarlo Stanton — who hit the ball hard all spring — got the Yankees in business with a one-out single in the second inning. Webb then hit Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a sinker before Caballero roped a double to left field, driving in Stanton.
Ryan McMahon, who went cold for most of the spring after narrowing his batting stance this offseason, came up next and delivered a two-strike, two-run single up the middle to make it 3-0.
Austin Wells, who went from leading off on Opening Day last year to hitting ninth Wednesday, swung at the first pitch he saw and hit a soft liner to left-center before Trent Grisham — who came into the season facing questions of whether he could repeat his breakout performance in 2025 — roped a triple to the gap for the 5-0 lead.
The Yankees later padded their lead in the fifth inning when they once again got aggressive on Webb. Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice and Stanton recorded three straight singles on Webb’s first four pitches of the frame to make it 6-0 before the Yankees pushed it to 7-0 on a throwing error.
Fried, meanwhile, made quick work of the Giants after a first inning in which he walked the first batter he faced on four pitches and left runners on the corners. The Giants mustered only two more base runners against Fried the rest of the night as his offense gave him room to breathe and go on the attack.
“It was kind of a little bit of everyone tonight, being able to have a hand in it,” Boone said. “A night where we didn’t hit the ball out of the ballpark, but just a lot of good, pressurized at-bats. Good night for us.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
