Ben Rice homered in each of the first two innings and Aaron Judge hit one of New York’s four first-inning solo shots as the Yankees belted the host Baltimore Orioles 15-3 on Tuesday.

Yankees starter Carlos Rodon took a perfect game into the sixth inning while his teammates kept doing damage at the plate.

New York’s first three batters of the game — Trent Grisham, Judge and Rice — homered, and then with one out, Cody Bellinger knocked one over the fence. Austin Wells added a ninth-inning blast.

The Yankees became the first team in major league history to open a game with three straight home runs twice in the same season.

It was a rude treatment for Kyle Gibson, who was in his first big-league game of the year and back with the Orioles after being one of the team’s best pitchers in 2023. Gibson (0-1) was tagged for nine runs on 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Rice, who had three of New York’s 19 hits, scored four runs. Judge, who drew two walks to go with a pair of hits, crossed the plate three times before he was lifted for a seventh-inning pinch runner.

Judge has nine home runs and Rice and Grisham have both hit eight. Wells has five.

The Yankees made it 5-0 in the first inning on Anthony Volpe’s RBI double.

The lead grew to 12-0 through five innings.

After Baltimore’s Emmanuel Rivera led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, Jorge Mateo doubled to break up Rodon’s no-hit bid. The Orioles put up a run on Dylan Carlson’s groundout.

That was the first earned run allowed by Rodon (4-3) in a stretch covering more than 17 innings.

Gunnar Henderson hit his third homer of the year to lead off the seventh against Rodon, marking the last batter the left-hander faced. Rodon finished by allowing just two hits and issuing one walk with seven strikeouts.

The series is even at one game apiece going into the Wednesday finale.

–Field Level Media