Judge hits first home run of MLB season as Yankees beat Giants

Yankees beat Giants to open MLB season

Aaron Judge blasted the first home run of the 2023 Major League Baseball season, sparking the New York Yankees to victory to begin the new campaign with new rules and familiar feats on Thursday.

The 30-year-old American outfielder, in his first time at bat since being named captain of the historic MLB club, smashed the second pitch he saw from San Francisco righthander Logan Webb over the centrefield wall for a solo homer in the first inning to start the scoring in New York’s 5-0 triumph.

Fans at Yankee Stadium chanted “M-V-P” as Judge, last year’s American League Most Valuable Player, walked to home plate and picked up right where he left off in 2022.

Judge belted 62 homers last year to break the the AL single-season homer record of 61 set by Yankees legend Roger Maris in 1961.

Judge was courted by several teams as a free agent in the off-season, including the Giants, but signed an MLB record free agent deal for nine years at US$360 million last December to stay with New York.

New York’s Gleyber Torres blasted a two-run homer in the fourth and righthanded pitcher Gerrit Cole struck out 11 over six shutout innings while allowing only three hits with two walks to earn the victory.

At Washington, Atlanta’s Travis d’Arnaud went 4-for-5 at the plate, scoring twice and driving in two more runs in the Braves’ 7-2 rout in the National League season opener.

Braves pitcher Collin McHugh ran afoul of the new time clock in the eighth inning when he was issued a ball against Washington batter Jeimer Candelario, who walked. McHugh pleaded his case to the umpire to no avail.

Two of the oldest and most storied venues in baseball, Boston’s Fenway Park and Chicago’s Wrigley Field, also hosted early openers.

Marcus Stroman struck out eight and allowed only three hits over six shutout innings to spark the Chicago Cubs over visiting Milwaukee 4-0.

Dansby Swanson hit a two-run single in the third inning and scored on a Trey Mancini single while Ian Happ scored on a fielder’s choice to provide all the scoring the Cubs needed.

At Boston, Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman went 5-for-5 with a solo homer in the first inning and four runs batted in while Ramon Urias added a two-run homer off Red Sox starter Corey Kluber in the Orioles’ 10-9 triumph.

DEBUT OF NEW RULES

All 30 MLB clubs were in action on opening day, which marked the debut of new rules aimed at hastening the pace of play. Pre-season contests were reduced by an average of 26 minutes to two hours and 35 minutes.

A new pitch clock will limit the amount of time pitchers have to engage with batters while defenders will be limited in how far they will be able to shift out of typical positions to try and better field batters based on past hitting charts.

The size of bases was also increased, creating a bigger target for base stealers who will face less targeting for pickoff throws from pitchers under tighter restrictions.

There was one automatic ball called for a pitch-clock violation by Braves reliever McHugh in the eighth, leading to what amounted to a three-pitch walk to Candelario. All of the bullpen use resulted in a game that lasted 3 hours, 7 minutes.

Chicago’s Stroman also was called for a pitch-clock violation, taking too long to deliver a pitch to Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich.

One pitcher who will not have to worry about the new rules for a while longer is Justin Verlander of the New York Mets.

Verlander, last year’s AL Cy Young Award winner as top pitcher after helping the Houston Astros to a World Series crown, was put on the MLB injured list on Thursday with a strained muscle near his pitching shoulder.

In other games, Japanese star Shohei Ohtani struck out 10 batters in six scoreless innnings but could not prevent the Los Angeles Angels slipping to a 2-1 loss on the road to the Oakland Athletics.

The Los Angeles Dodgers meanwhile got off to a winning start with an 8-2 defeat of the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.