Yankees takeaways from 5-0 Opening Day win over Giants, including Aaron Judge picking up where he left off

Aaron Judge started his encore and his captaincy with a blast, Gleyber Torres also homered and ace Gerrit Cole was terrific as the Yankees began their 121st season with a 5-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants Thursday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.

The Yanks even introduced a new player who seems destined to be a fan favorite – 21-year-old shortstop Anthony Volpe, the prized prospect who was 0-for-2 with a walk and a stolen base and was cheered all day by the sellout crowd of 46,172.

Judge, the single-season American League home run king, smacked a first-inning solo shot and Torres hit a two-run blast in the fourth. The Yankees are now 68-52-1 on Opening Day all-time.

Cole set a mark for strikeouts by a Yankee in an Opening Day start – he had 11 – and tossed six scoreless innings. He allowed just three hits, all singles, and walked two batters. His high-90s fastball and slider were especially effective and he used both to get whiffs.

Here are some key takeaways...

- Judge set the American League single-season home run record last year by launching 62 and, if Thursday is any indication, he seems intent on making another big homer run this season. Judge took a called strike from Giants starter Logan Webb and then, on his first swing of the new season and his first cut as the new Yankee captain, he blasted a ball over the center-field wall.

Obviously, that immediately put him on quite a pace for the season, though we’ll see how that develops. The drive gave the Yanks a 1-0 lead over the Giants, the hometown team that had courted Judge over the winter in free agency and seemed, at one point, a real threat to sign him away from the Yanks.

- In the fourth inning, Torres launched a two-run homer to right-field, boosting the Yankees’ lead to 3-0. It’s a good start for Torres, who was the designated hitter Thursday afternoon, while DJ LeMahieu started at second base. Torres was the subject of much trade speculation at the deadline last season and again over the winter.

- In the seventh inning, LeMahieu, who had whiffed in each of his first three at-bats, hit an RBI single and Judge added a bloop single into center field for another RBI as the Yankees pushed their lead to 5-0.

- Volpe was the fourth Yankee to make his MLB debut as a starter on Opening Day at age 21 or younger – the others are Mickey Mantle (1951), Ben Chapman (1930) and Frankie Crosetti (1932) – and fans were buzzing about him well before the game. Cheers went up when the pre-game scoreboard report mentioned his name and then he got some of the loudest applause when he was introduced.

Judge had advised Volpe to “have something ready” for when the Stadium “Bleacher Creatures” shouted for him during their pre-game roll call and Volpe did – he waved and kissed his jersey in reply. Then fans reacted to every pitch in his first MLB at-bat, a walk on a 3-2 pitch by Webb leading off the third inning. Then fans went nuts when Volpe took a walking lead and bolted for second with LeMahieu at the plate. Volpe was safe for his first career steal.

- Cole, who led the majors in strikeouts last season while setting a Yankee season record with 257, got off to a great strikeout start. He had 10 strikeouts Thursday after only four innings, breaking Tim Leary’s club mark for an Opening Day. Leary fanned nine in 1991. Cole’s 10th strikeout came on a nifty changeup that fooled Mike Yastrzemski.

It was the fifth career start in an opener for Cole, fourth in a row for the Yankees. Cole now has 2.66 ERA in Opening Day starts for the Yanks.

- Webb, the Giants’ starter, piled up strikeouts, too. His 12 set a career-best and an Opening Day record for San Francisco.

- Yankee relievers Wandy Peralta, Jonathan Loáisiga, Ron Marinaccio combined to throw three scoreless innings to finish off the Giants.

- In the Yanks’ first official effort under baseball’s new rules, which are designed to speed up play, the game took two hours and 33 minutes. In the ninth inning, there was an automatic strike called on JD Davis, the former Met who now plays for the Giants, for not being ready to hit with eight seconds left on the pitch clock. Davis ended up striking out looking.

- The Giants opened the season in New York City for the first time since they actually made their home base in New York. Their last season-opener in New York was at the Polo Grounds on April 17, 1956, when they beat the Pirates.

Highlights

What's next

The Yankees are off on Friday, but they play the second of three with the Giants on Saturday at 4:05 p.m.

Clarke Schmidt will face Alex Cobb.