Aaron Judge hit a two-run homer in the sixth to end an 0-for-7 start to his year after the two-time reigning American League MVP had a strike call overturned by the automated system earlier in the same at-bat when he challenged, and the New York Yankees beat the San Francisco Giants 3-0 on Friday.
After going hitless on opening day for the first time in the Yankees’ shutout win two days earlier, Judge connected on a 123.4m drive to left with an exit velocity of 175.6kph that broke up a scoreless game and marked his fourth career home run off Robbie Ray.
The ball bounced off a staircase just inside the foul pole.
Photo: Getty via AFP
It was the seventh pitch he saw from Ray, and fifth after the slugger challenged a strike call — an 138.6kph slider — from plate umpire Chad Fairchild and had it overturned to a ball by the “robot umpire.”
The Giants, who had just one hit, are the first team to be shut out with five or fewer combined hits over the first two games of a season.
Judge was booed by a sold-out home crowd of 40,273 after he decided to stay with New York as a free agent in 2022 on a US$360 million, nine-year contract rather than return home to his native California and join San Francisco.
Giancarlo Stanton homered two batters later to greet Giants reliever Jose Butto to back right-hander Cam Schlittler.
Tony Vitello has to try again for his first managerial victory after losing his debut Wednesday, when the Yankees opened the MLB schedule by blanking San Francisco 7-0 despite Judge’s 0-for-5 day featuring four strikeouts.
Vitello became the ninth manager in baseball history to be shut out in each of his first two games with a team, Sportradar said.
Heliot Ramos doubled in the second for San Francisco’s only hit after the Giants managed just three hits Wednesday.
The 18 consecutive innings without scoring to start the season are the longest for the Giants since going 17 straight in 2019. The longest for the franchise since 1901 is 20 straight innings without a run to start was in 1909, Sportradar said.
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