SAN FRANCISCO — The final score Friday read 3-0, another routine Yankees victory at Oracle Park. But what happened over 18 innings in the first two games of 2026 stretched far beyond wins and losses.
The Yankees didn’t just beat the Giants twice. They rewrote the franchise record book, carved their names into MLB history and left San Francisco’s storied organization holding records no team wants to own.
From the pitching staff to the power duo at the plate, milestones piled up at a rate that made the actual game results feel like a footnote.
Yankees pitching enters uncharted territory
For the first time in the franchise’s 123-year history, the Yankees opened a season with back-to-back shutouts. Eighteen consecutive scoreless innings to begin 2026. That had never happened before in pinstripes.
Max Fried set the standard Wednesday with 6 1/3 scoreless innings. Cam Schlittler raised it Friday, holding the Giants to one hit across 5 1/3 frames with eight strikeouts and zero walks. Four Yankees relievers then finished the job without surrendering a hit.
Schlittler also became the first pitcher in Yankees history to strike out at least eight batters while allowing one hit or fewer in his first outing of a season. That is rarefied air for a 25-year-old making just his 15th career start.
Fried and Cam Schlittler are the first Yankees duo since Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte in 2003 to each post scoreless starts in the club’s first two games of a season.
“To see Max go out there on Opening Night and do something special and then Cam followed up with a one-hit performance,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “The boys have been putting in their work in the offseason. That’s for sure.”
Yankees land on a list only 19 teams have reached
The consecutive shutouts to open 2026 placed the Yankees in rare company. Only 19 other teams in MLB history have accomplished the feat. And of those 19, just two pushed the streak to three straight scoreless games: the 2016 Dodgers and the 1963 Cardinals.
The Yankees also became the second team in the modern era, since 1900, to allow zero runs and fewer than five hits combined through their first two games of a season. The only other club to do it was the 1940 Cleveland Indians, according to data from MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Through two games, Yankees pitchers have allowed just four hits and four walks while recording 19 strikeouts. The Yankees bullpen, specifically, has given up one hit and two walks across 6 1/3 combined innings.
“Obviously, Max doing what he does and Cam just pitched really well. He located all three fastballs, he threw a bunch of curveballs and just pounded the zone. He’s been really fun to watch,” Yankees outfielder Cody Bellinger said.
Giants set unwanted marks of their own
While the Yankees stacked milestones, the Giants absorbed records on the opposite end. In 143 years of existence, stretching from their roots in New York to their current home in San Francisco, the franchise had never been shut out in its first two games of a season. That changed this week.
Through 18 innings, the Giants have produced zero runs, four hits, four walks and 19 strikeouts. As a team, they are batting .068. Their only extra-base hit was a soft double from Heliot Ramos in Friday’s second inning.
Giants manager Tony Vitello, who fell to 0-2 in his debut, joined a long line of San Francisco skippers to lose their first game. No Giants manager has started 1-0 since Felipe Alou in 2003.
“I would go with over-swinging, which will lend itself to chasing a little bit,” Vitello said of his lineup’s early struggles. “A few of those guys had some really short swings going on during spring and now it’s gotten a little bigger.”
Judge and Stanton reach the 60 club
Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton each homered in Friday’s sixth inning, marking the 60th time the Yankees sluggers have gone deep in the same game, including the postseason. The Yankees are a staggering 53-7 in those 60 contests.
Their only losses came in the Field of Dreams game, Game 2 of a doubleheader when Judge hit No. 62 in 2022, two regular-season games in 2023, Game 3 of the 2024 ALCS, Game 5 of the 2024 World Series and a July 2025 defeat.
That 60 total ranks eighth all-time among MLB teammate duos, per the Elias Sports Bureau. Eddie Mathews and Hank Aaron hold the all-time record at 76, followed by Yankees legends Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig at 75.
“Him and Judge in that inning just hit two absolute moonshots,” Bellinger said. “So that was fun to watch.”
Yankees chase more history Saturday
The Yankees will try to extend their shutout streak to three straight games when Will Warren takes the mound Saturday at Oracle Park. Only two teams in MLB history have opened a season with three consecutive shutouts, making Saturday’s game a chance at extremely rare ground.
The Yankees pitching staff has produced all of this without Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Clarke Schmidt, each of whom began the season on the Yankees injured list. Cole is expected back by late May, and Rodon posted an 18-9 record with a 3.09 ERA in 2025.
“Obviously, Max was great. The bullpen was great. The bullpen was electric today as well,” Schlittler said. “I’m really excited for Will to get going and get the sweep.”
The Giants, still searching for their first run of the season, will counter with Tyler Mahle. The Yankees will be looking to add another chapter to what has already been a historic start to the 2026 campaign.
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