The New York Yankees will not put too much stock into their lopsided season-opening victory, or a fruitless performance from three-time American League MVP Aaron Judge.
Following the Yankees’ 7-0 romp on the road against the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday, followed by an abrupt day off Thursday, the teams will meet again Friday afternoon in the Bay Area.
New York, which led the majors with 274 homers last season, totaled nine singles and just one extra-base hit — Trent Grisham’s two-run triple that highlighted a five-run second inning. The Yankees coasted from there, notching their fifth straight Opening Day victory and spoiling the managerial debut of the Giants’ Tony Vitello in the process.
“We’ve got a lot to prove,” New York 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.”
That’s an understatement, given the Yankees are returning much of the same lineup that was responsible for leading the majors in runs scored (849) last season.
“One through nine, we can beat you,” said Yankees left-hander Max Fried, who allowed two hits over 6 1/3 shutout innings on Wednesday. “We obviously have the best player in the world (Judge) hitting for us, but we also have a lot of really good guys 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.”
Judge stumbled out of the blocks in what represented a visit home for the native of Linden, Calif. He struck out in the first, second, fourth and sixth innings before grounding out in the ninth to cap a 0-for-5 performance.
Judge was the only Yankees player without a hit in the season-opening victory.
Judge will look to rebound on Friday when he faces San Francisco left-hander Robbie Ray. The slugger is 3-for-8 lifetime versus the former Cy Young Award winner, with all three hits leaving the park.
Ray posted an 11-8 record with a 3.65 ERA in 32 starts last season. He is 2-3 with a 3.96 ERA in seven career appearances (all starts) against the Yankees.
“You’ve got the ultimate gruntmaster out there,” Vitello said. “It’ll be good for Robbie to have an opportunity for a punch-back game for us.”
The Yankees will counter with right-hander Cam Schlittler, who went 4-3 with a 2.96 ERA in 14 appearances (all starts) after making his major league debut July 9. He has yet to face the Giants.
San Francisco finished with just three hits in the season opener — all singles — and went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
“You feel good in spring training and then you come out and you don’t score any runs,” said third baseman Matt Chapman, who went 0-for-3 with a walk on Wednesday.
“That’s just baseball sometimes. I’m not putting too much stock into it. We have a really good group. It was the first game of the year. Sometimes it doesn’t go your way.”
–Field Level Media
