Yankees ambush Logan Webb, Max Fried shoves in Opening Day win over Giants

Opening Day is in the books and it couldn’t have gone better for the Yankees. It was a bit of a throwback game as the Yankees scored seven runs without the ball leaving the yard, with batters being aggressive early in the count to collect ten hits. Any time you can score seven runs when Aaron Judge strikes four times, you know you have strong support around the captain. Max Fried pitched a flawless 6.1 scoreless innings as the Yankees opened their season with a 7-0 win over the Giants.

The first pitch was delayed 20 minutes with all the festivities on the field, and the Yankees hitters were also slow to get out, with Trent Grisham and Aaron Judge striking out batters and Cody Bellinger popping out to left. Max Fried found himself in a tough situation in the bottom half, delivering a four-pitch leadoff walk to famous non-walker Luis Arraez. Matt Chapman then simply beat the throw to first to avoid the double play on his ground ball, and advanced to third on a shallow ball from Rafael Devers to center that Trent Grisham lost in the sun and got a late jumper — the bloop carrying a 95 percent catch probability according to Statcast. However, Fried buckled down, collecting his first strikeout of the year by blasting a 95 mph cutter from Willy Adames and knocking out Jung Hoo Lee.

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After falling behind early in the count to Webb’s aggression in the zone with sinkers and changeups, the entire Yankees lineup made necessary adjustments in the second. They began chasing first pitches that left Webb’s hand pointed toward the glove-side edge of the plate, relying on arm-side movement to carry him into the path of their bats. Giancarlo Stanton collected the Yankees’ first hit of the season with a one-out single up the middle, quickly followed by a Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit-for-hit on a first-pitch sinker. With runners on first and second, José Caballero lined a hanging sweeper 1-1 down the line in left, setting up Stanton for the first run of the campaign and moving Jazz into third place. Ryan McMahon brought both runners home on a groundout single that narrowly escaped Luis Arraez’s outstretched glove, and in just eight pitches the Yankees had a 3-0 lead. Austin Wells jumped on a first pitch change up the middle for a line drive single to center, an approach that also worked for Grisham as he sent a ball into an alley of triples in right center to plate McMahon and Wells — the Yankees’ first Opening Day triple since Johnny Damon in 2009. One of baseball’s most consistent starters, it was the first time Webb had given up five runs in an inning since 2023.

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Maybe it was just the adrenaline of the first inning of the first inning that caused Fried to spray a bunch of his opening knives high and glove side, because he found his rhythm in the second. He struck out three in the frame, sandwiched around a Casey Schmitt HBP, with all three strikeouts coming from the fastball. There weren’t as many swing-and-misses in the third against the top of the order for the second time, but he nonetheless took them out in order to induce two takedowns. The last baserunner he allowed was a two-out single by Heliot Ramos in the fourth.

The Yankees put up a pair in the fourth as McMahon drew a one-out walk and Wells singled to right, but a Grisham flied out and Judge’s groundout stranded them in place. However, the traffic they created in year five paid off. Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice and Giancarlo Stanton opened the game with three consecutive singles, with Stanton bringing home Bellinger for the sixth run of the game. Jazz then appeared to go into a potential double play, but a throwing error by Willy Adames that hit Jazz and bounced away from the first baseman allowed Rice to score from second.

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Webb would end the inning, but that was it for the 2023 NL Cy Young finalist. New Giants manager Tony Vitello left his ace to eat it, which isn’t entirely indefensible considering he found some efficiency at third and fourth and needs to increase his pitch count. However, the seven runs on nine hits is the most runs he has given up in a start since July 10, 2024.

Keaton Winn was the first reliever out of the Giants bullpen, and he put a feather in his cap by striking out Judge. The only blemish on an otherwise flawless night was that Judge went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts. This is the first time a reigning MVP has worn the gold sombrero on Opening Day and Judge’s first four-out game since September 28, 2024. In a way, though, the captain having a quiet night is a gift in disguise because it reinforces the fact that the Yankees offense is still capable of scoring a lot of runs even when their leader isn’t hitting that day.

Fried continued to cruise through the middle of the inning, which was a double blessing considering commissioner Rob Manfred joined the broadcast booth in the fifth. Fried worked a quick 1-2-3 round to keep us from listening too much to his conceited nonsense. That wasn’t the only notable interaction with booth guests, with Barry Bonds joining in the sixth to share an alleged story of George Steinbrenner sabotaging a deal to sign the all-time home run king in 1993.

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The contact against Fried started to get a little stronger in the sixth despite him working a 1-2-3 frame. That, coupled with the fact that he’s still not fully built for a full workload, likely explains why Boone retired his starter on just 86 pitches with one out in the seventh. It’s hard to ask much more from your Opening Day starter, as Fried pitched 6.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk with four strikeouts, with the left-hander striking out 18 of the last 20 batters he faced.