Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees Please Fans with Opening Day Win

The Bronx Bombers set the tone early with two home runs and a dominant start by Gerrit Cole.

Joe Najarian

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The New York Yankees got their 2023 season started the right way with a 5-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Aaron Judge and Gleyber Torres each hit a home run to seize control of the game, while the Yankees shut out the Giants behind six brilliant innings from ace Gerrit Cole.

With the bats strong and the pitching dominant, the Yankees had one of their most complete performances on Opening Day in recent memory.

The big performer of the game was Cole, who pitched six shutout innings and allowed only three hits and two walks, while striking out 11. The 11 punch outs are the most ever by a Yankee pitcher on Opening Day; he broke the previous record of nine in just four innings.

Meanwhile, Giants ace Logan Webb was saddled with the loss, but he pitched much better than his line would indicate. Webb allowed only four hits and two walks while striking out 12, but two of his mistakes were sent over the fence, while he didn’t receive any help from the Giants’ bats.

After the opening festivities, Cole looked a bit rusty against the leadoff batter, walking LaMonte Wade Jr. on four pitches. But he quickly shook the rust off and struck out Michael Conforto, Wilmer Flores, and Joc Pederson in order.

The Yankees gave Cole all the runs he would need in the bottom of the inning. After the first out, Judge strode to the plate and received a huge ovation from the Yankee Stadium faithful after an MVP season last year, a new 9-year contract to remain a Yankee, and the appointment as team captain. After taking the first pitch for a strike, Judge unloaded on a sinker and launched it to Monument Park in dead center field, giving the Yankees a 1-0 lead and sending the crowd into hysterics.

The Giants got a runner in scoring position in the second inning, when Thairo Estrada singled and stole second base. But Cole, like the previous inning, struck out three batters, which included Giants shortstop and brother-in-law Brandon Crawford.

After a 1-2-3 frame from each pitcher, the crowd rose to its feet again when Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe, making his MLB debut, strode to the batter’s box for his first ever at-bat. Volpe worked a walk and stole second, but ultimately would be stranded.

In the fourth inning, Cole worked around a leadoff walk with a pair of strikeouts, while the Yankee bats gave him breathing room in the bottom half. Josh Donaldson singled with one out, and Torres, who was the designated hitter for the game, launched a two-run home run into the short porch in right to increase the lead to 3-0.

After an uneventful fifth inning, Cole gave up a leadoff single to Conforto in the sixth. But a ground ball from Flores to Volpe resulted in a 6-4-3 double play, and Cole finished his amazing day by striking out Pederson.

Wandy Peralta (a former Giant) took the ball for the seventh and promptly struck out pinch-hitter J.D. Davis, before allowing a single to Estrada (a former Yankee) and allowed him to move to second on a balk. But after Peralta struck out Crawford for the second out, Jonathan Loaisiga took over to retire David Villar, the Giants’ second pinch-hitter of the inning.

Torres walked to lead off the bottom of the seventh, which ended Webb’s day. The Yankees then padded their lead against reliever John Brebbia; Torres stole second and moved to third on a Jose Trevino single. Volpe struck out when facing an opportunity for his first career RBI, but DJ LeMahieu, who struck out in his first three at-bats, got off the schneid with an RBI single to score Torres (the run charged to Webb, which denied him a quality start). Judge followed with a broken-bat bloop single to center that drove in Trevino and concluded the scoring.

Ron Marinaccio pitched the last two innings to preserve the shutout; he struck out Estrada looking to end the game and sent the Yankee faithful home happy, with “New York, New York” blaring from the stadium.

The Yankees are 5-1 in their last six Opening Day games and 68-52-1 all-time, per MLB.com's Bryan Hoch.

Follow Joe Najarian on Twitter (@JoeNajarian). Be sure to bookmark Inside The Pinstripes and check back daily for news, analysis and more.

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Joe Najarian
JOE NAJARIAN

Joe Najarian is a Rutgers University graduate from the Class of 2022. After an eight-month stint with Jersey Sporting News (JSN), covering Rutgers Football, Rutgers Basketball, and Rutgers Baseball, Najarian became a contributing writer on Inside the Pinstripes and Inside the Mets. He additionally writes on Giants Country, FanNation’s site for the New York Giants. Follow Joe on Twitter @JoeNajarian

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