In his first game ever in San Francisco, Aaron Judge blasted two home runs to lead the Yankees to a 6-2 win over the Giants on Friday night.
Here are the takeaways…
-Whenever Judge came to the plate, the San Francisco crowd booed him heavily. This is the first time since the “Arson Judge” incident that almost saw the slugger signing with the Giants during the 2023 offseason. He singled in his first at-bat, which may be changed to an error later on, but he really gave the Giants fans something to boo in his second at-bat.
With two men on, Judge launched a Jordan Hicks splitter down in the zone over the left-field wall to give the Yankees a 3-1 lead. Oh, but the Yankee Captain was not done. He’d hit a 426-foot blast to dead center to give the Yankees a 4-1 lead in the sixth. Judge’s blast was his 14th this month and now holds the major league lead in home runs (20).
Judge finished 3-for-4.
-The six Yankees runs were more than enough for Marcus Stroman. The right-hander pitched 7.1 innings of two-run ball. He was efficient and breezed through the Giants lineup. Although he scattered six hits and two walks, he induced two double plays.
The Giants scored the first run of the game thanks to a grounder that Gleyber Torres did not get his body in front of, as he was hoping to turn a double play, but the ball trickled under his glove and into right field. Jorge Soler would promptly hit a sac fly to Juan Soto who threw a strike to home plate but Matt Chapman slid in just before the tag.
The second Giants run came on what looked to be a lazy fly ball to left field by Mike Yastrzemski but the wind carried it over Alex Verdugo‘s head for an RBI double.
Stroman pitched 7.1 innings (91 pitches/56 strikes) giving up the two runs on six hits and two walks. He also struck out two batters.
-The Yankees picked up their other two runs on one play. A passed ball allowed Torres to score from third but the infielder’s slide kicked the ball out of the glove of pitcher Taylor Rodgers — who was covering home. This allowed Anthony Rizzo to score as well.
Speaking of Rizzo, after getting Thursday’s game off, the first baseman was back in the lineup and finished 2-for-4 with a double. His double was his first extra-base hit since May 12.
Anthony Volpe went 1-for-4 after having his 21-game hitting streak snapped on Thursday. The young shortstop is now looking to start a new streak.
Game MVP: Aaron Judge
The northern California native felt right at home in Oracle Park. His first home run gave the Yankees the lead and his second seemingly killed the crowd and the Giants.
Highlights
What’s next
The Yankees continue their three-game series with the Giants in San Francisco on Saturday night. First pitch is scheduled for 10:15 p.m.
Cody Poteet (1-0, 1.50 ERA) will make his return to the team after the injury to Clarke Schmidt while the Giants will send out Logan Webb (4-4, 2.74 ERA) to the mound.
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