SAN FRANCISCO — The New York Yankees flew out of Oracle Park on Saturday night with a perfect 3-0 record and a message for the rest of the American League. They are not the same team that watched Toronto celebrate an AL pennant on their home field last October.
The Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants with a 3-1 win Saturday, outscoring their hosts 13-1. Their pitching staff allowed just one run in 27 innings. Their lineup found timely hits without relying on the long ball every night.
But not everything was perfect. Here is the good, the bad and the best from the Yankees’ opening weekend.
The good: Yankees pitching was historically dominant
Max Fried kicked things off with 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Opening Night. Cam Schlittler followed with 5 1/3 innings of one-hit ball and eight strikeouts on Friday. Will Warren kept it going Saturday with 4 1/3 innings of one-run ball.
The Yankees became just the second team in franchise history to get scoreless starts in their first two games, matching the 2003 club of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. The bullpen was equally impressive, posting 11 scoreless innings across the three games.
Jake Bird earned the win Saturday with 1 2/3 scoreless frames. Brent Headrick, Tim Hill and David Bednar finished the job. Bednar secured his second save despite allowing the first two runners to reach in the ninth, getting a strikeout and a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.
Former Giant Camilo Doval also shined in the series, striking out the side at Oracle Park in Friday’s eighth inning against his old teammates.
The bad: bottom of the Yankees lineup went silent
Saturday’s final score masked the offensive struggles lower in the order. Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jose Caballero, Ryan McMahon and Austin Wells combined to go 0-for-15 with seven strikeouts. However, it was they who carried the Yankees in the first game with singles.
Aaron Judge struck out four times on Opening Night before finding his groove with home runs in Games 2 and 3. But the Yankees will need more from the five-through-nine spots to sustain success against tougher pitching.
The Yankees scored 13 runs across the series, but most of that came in Game 1’s five-run second inning against Logan Webb. In Games 2 and 3, the offense managed just six runs combined.
If the bottom of the order continues to sputter, it will put added pressure on Judge, Stanton and Rice to carry the offense nightly. That formula is hard to sustain over 162 games.
The best: ABS challenges and defensive plays changed the series
Aaron Boone spent spring training drilling his players on the new ABS challenge system. That work paid off immediately.
In Saturday’s finale, seven challenges reversed calls by plate umpire Chad Whitson. The biggest came from Trent Grisham in the third inning. A called third strike became ball three after his helmet tap. Grisham walked and scored on Rice’s two-run double for the game’s first runs.
Yankees catcher Austin Wells went 2-for-2 on defensive challenges, including one that gave reliever Tim Hill a strikeout. Boone has made mastering the ABS system a priority, and it already looks like a competitive edge.
“That’s what’s going to make the difference between winning a division, or ending up in a tie and losing it,” Judge said. “Every game matters.”
The defense was equally sharp. The Yankees turned four double plays Saturday, three in the final four innings. Ben Rice, who moved from catcher to first base this season, impressed with his footwork and a tricky catch near the line.
“You give him a challenge, he’s able to conquer it,” Boone said of Rice.
Rice, who ripped a 105.5 mph double off the wall to open the scoring, acknowledged the position change is a work in progress.
“The more games I get under my belt, the more comfortable I’m going to feel,” Rice said.
And the Yankees word
Stanton continued his torrid start, collecting two more hits Saturday to push his average to .500. Grisham went 1-for-3 with a walk, a run and a stolen base. Cody Bellinger tripled and scored in another productive outing from the top of the Yankees order.
Judge, who crushed a 383-foot solo shot at 102.1 mph in Saturday’s fifth inning, said the pregame talk centered on finishing the sweep.
“A lot of friends, a lot of families – a lot of boos, just soaking up the atmosphere,” Judge said of the entire scene at Oracle Park. “We took care of business. That’s the most important thing.”
Boone notched his 700th regular-season win as the Yankees manager, closing out a near-flawless opening stretch for the road team. But he eyes something more.
“Wins are always hard to come by. You take them when you can get them,” said Boone, the seventh Yankees skipper to reach the plateau. “I love that we played well, but it’s March.”
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