SAN FRANCISCO — For a team built around the long ball and the most feared hitter in baseball, the Yankees sure found an unusual way to start 2026.
No home runs. No hits from Aaron Judge. And yet, none of it mattered.
New York rolled over the Giants 7-0 on Wednesday night at Oracle Park, stringing together 10 hits and riding a dominant start from Max Fried to extend their Opening Day winning streak to five years in a row. It was the kind of performance that reminded the rest of the American League why this Yankees lineup led the majors in runs scored a season ago.
A second inning the Giants would love to forget
Logan Webb retired the first four batters he faced and appeared settled in. Then, in the span of 10 pitches, everything unraveled.
Giancarlo Stanton, who hit the ball hard throughout spring training, got things started with a sharp one-out single in the top of the second. Webb then plunked Jazz Chisholm Jr. with a sinker, and Jose Caballero followed with a double to left field that scored Stanton for the first Yankees run of the season.
Ryan McMahon stepped up next and delivered a clutch two-strike, two-run single up the middle. McMahon had gone cold for most of the spring after narrowing his batting stance this offseason, but his approach paid off when it counted. Austin Wells, who was dropped from the leadoff spot to the ninth slot in the order, lined a soft single to left-center. Then Trent Grisham ripped a two-run triple into the gap, and suddenly the Yankees led 5-0 before the third inning even started.
New York brought nine men to the plate in that frame alone. It was a burst of offense that set the tone for the rest of the night.
Fried delivers a gem as the Yankees ace
While the lineup did its damage early, Fried made sure the Giants never got close to a comeback.
The left-hander’s night did not start smoothly. He walked leadoff man Luis Arraez on four pitches and, one out later, Rafael Devers dropped a bloop single into center that Grisham broke late on. Runners stood on the corners with the crowd at Oracle Park roaring.
But Fried buckled down. He blew a 95 mph fastball past Willy Adames for a strikeout and got Jung Hoo Lee to ground out, escaping unscathed. From there, the lefty was nearly untouchable. He retired 18 of the final 20 batters he faced, allowing just a hit batter in the second inning and a harmless single in the fourth.
Fried finished with 6 1/3 shutout innings on 86 pitches, becoming just the fifth Yankees pitcher since 1969 to throw at least 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Opening Day. He joined an exclusive list that includes Catfish Hunter in 1977, Ron Guidry in 1980, Rick Rhoden in 1988 and David Cone in 1996. The Yankees recorded a shutout on the road in an opener for the first time since 1967.
Fried stepped into the role of staff ace while the Yankees continue to await the return of Gerrit Cole, and on this night, he looked every bit the part.
Yankees pile on in the fifth
Webb never recovered from the early damage. In the fifth inning, the Yankees attacked him again from the first pitch. Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice and Stanton strung together three consecutive singles on Webb’s first four offerings to push the lead to 6-0. A throwing error later tacked on a seventh run and ended any slim hopes for a San Francisco rally.
Webb, a 15-game winner last season making his fifth career Opening Day start, was charged with six earned runs and nine hits over five innings. It was a rough debut for the Giants under first-year manager Tony Vitello, the 47-year-old who made the jump from coaching at the University of Tennessee.
Judge goes quiet, but the lineup speaks
Judge went 0-for-5 with four strikeouts, marking the first time he went hitless on Opening Day and his first four-strikeout game since September 2024. The California native heard boos from the Oracle Park crowd before the game and during each at-bat, a lingering reaction from Giants fans who courted him during free agency in 2022 before he chose the Yankees’ nine-year, $360 million deal.
But the beauty of this Yankees roster is its depth. Seven of the nine starters recorded at least one hit. McMahon, Grisham, Caballero and Wells all came through in big spots, proving the lineup can carry the load even when Judge has an off night.
First ABS challenge goes against the Yankees
The game also featured the first challenge under Major League Baseball’s new Automated Ball-Strike System. In the fourth inning, Caballero tapped his helmet to appeal a called strike on a 90.7 mph Webb sinker on the upper-inside corner. Plate umpire Bill Miller, a major league ump since 1997, had his call upheld by the 12 Hawk-Eye cameras, and the result flashed on the Oracle Park scoreboard for the crowd to see.
It was a small but historic moment as the league enters its new era of technology-assisted officiating. The failed challenge had no impact on the outcome, as the Yankees had already put the game well out of reach.
Bullpen seals the shutout
Jake Bird, Brent Headrick and Camilo Doval combined to record the final eight outs after Fried departed. The trio held the Giants hitless and scoreless, capping a wire-to-wire shutout that sent the Yankees into Thursday’s off day on a high note.
When the Yankees opted to bring back essentially the same roster this offseason, the message was clear: this group is good enough. One game does not prove that thesis, and there are still 161 left on the schedule. But with Cam Schlittler set to take the mound Friday against Robbie Ray in Game 2, the Yankees head into the rest of the series with momentum and a formula that worked just fine without any long balls at all.
Yankees vs. Giants lineup
Yankees hitting
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | KR | K | OBP | SLG |
| T. Grisham CF | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | .200 | .600 |
| A. Judge RF | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | K | .000 | .000 |
| C. Bellinger LF | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | .200 | .600 |
| B. Rice 1B | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .250 | .400 |
| G. Stanton DH | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .500 | .500 |
| J. Chisholm Jr. 2B | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .333 | .500 |
| J. Caballero SS | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | .250 | .250 |
| R. McMahon 3B | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .333 | .500 |
| A. Wells C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | .667 | .750 |
| TEAM | 36 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 12 | 3 | .278 | .611 |
Giants hitting
| Player | AB | R | H | RBI | HR | BB | K | SLG |
| L. Arraez 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .333 |
| M. Chapman 3B | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| R. Devers DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 |
| W. Adames SS | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .333 |
| J. Lee RF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| H. Ramos LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| C. Schmitt 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .000 |
| P. Bailey C | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .000 |
| H. Bader CF | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| TEAM | 31 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | .097 |
Yankees pitching
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | BB | KR |
| M. Fried (W, 1-0) | 6.1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| J. Bird | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| B. Headrick | 1.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| C. Doval | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 |
| TEAM | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0.00 |
Giants pitching
| Pitcher | IP | H | R | ER | PC-ST | ERA |
| L. Webb (L, 0-1) | 5.0 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 86-58 | 10.80 |
| K. Winn | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19-13 | 0.00 |
| J. Brubaker | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 22-12 | 0.00 |
| C. Kilian | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 10-6 | 0.00 |
| TEAM | 9.0 | 10 | 7 | 6 | 137-89 | 7.00 |
How do you see the win?
