Yankees takeaways from Monday's 8-1 win over Phillies, including Anthony Rizzo's game-breaking home run
Anthony Rizzo's first home run of the 2023 MLB season ignited a decisive five-run fifth inning in the Yankees' 8-1 blowout win over the Philadelphia Phillies in the opener of a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.
Six things to know from Monday's game
1. After Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton flexed their muscles in the Yankees' three-game series win over the San Francisco Giants this past weekend to open the season, Rizzo took his turn. He launched a 31-degree moon shot down the right-field line that landed just inside the foul pole 387 feet later and gave the Yankees an emphatic 5-1 lead with one out in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Rizzo's long ball was his only hit of the 1-for-4 evening, but he also worked a walk as he upped his slash line to .333/.500/667 through four games. On a night where Judge and Stanton cooled off a bit, Rizzo came through.
2. What happened from there summed up the rest of the game as the Yankees batted around in a frame that saw the Phillies go through three different pitchers -- ex-Mets starter Taijuan Walker, Yunior Marte and Andrew Vasquez. Franchy Cordero's first hit as a Yankee came at an opportunistic time -- a one-out, right-center-gap-splitting double that scored Stanton and Gleyber Torres to push the Yankees ahead 7-1.
3. For good measure, Jose Trevino scored Cordero on a two-out RBI single up the middle that was the exclamation point to the Yankees' 8-1 advantage. DJ LeMahieu, who led off the inning with a single to center, ended the marathon frame two batters later with a right-field flyout.
4. Not to be overlooked, Torres' home run -- the 100th of his career -- gave the Yankees a 3-0 cushion entering the fourth inning. He turned an inside-out swing on a 95-mph fastball over the inner half of the plate by Walker into a right field solo shot with two outs in the third.
5. Torres delivered well before he smacked his second home run of the early season, though. After Stanton's bases loaded groundout to Trea Turner at shortstop brought LeMahieu -- whose leadoff triple should not go unnoticed -- home from third and drew first blood for the Yankees, Torres got the job done with an infield single that caromed off Walker's glove and scored Judge as New York doubled its 2-0 lead.
Torres worked three walks in addition to his 2-for-2 evening. Through four games, he is off to a strong start at the plate, slashing .333/.529/.833 with two home runs, four RBI and five walks.
6. Pitching with an early lead, Nestor Cortes cruised. He scattered seven hits and one run in five innings, striking out three and walking none while throwing 55 strikes on 80 pitches in his first start of the season.
Highlights
What's next
The Yankees (3-1) seek their third straight win and a clinch of the three-game series against the Phillies (0-4) when they return to Yankee Stadium for Tuesday's 7:05 p.m. start.
New York RHP Domingo German and Philadelphia LHP Matt Strahm are the probable pitchers.
