The Yankees clobbered a perennial Cy Young candidate and Max Fried pitched like he’s hunting one of those trophies himself as New York opened the Major League Baseball season with a 7-0 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park in San Francisco.
It was the Yanks' fifth consecutive victory in an opener.
Here are the takeaways...
- Fried threw 6.1 shutout innings, allowing only two hits. He struck out four and walked one, throwing 56 of his 83 pitches for strikes. He wobbled a tad in the first inning, walking Luis Arraez on four pitches leading off and then giving up a bloop single one out later. But Fried fanned Willy Adames and got Jung Hoo Lee on a grounder to end the threat. He wasn’t threatened, even mildly, again.
Fried was just the fourth Yankee starter on Opening Day to go six or more innings and allow two hits or fewer, according to Sarah Langs. The others were Mel Stottlemyre (1967), Ron Guidry (1980) and David Cone (1996). Fried was making his fourth career start in an opener, having done it three previous times for his old team, the Atlanta Braves. Fried’s start meant that a lefty had started the opener for the third straight season, the first time that’s happened in Yankee history. The other two were NestorCortes (2024) and Carlos Rodón (2025).
- The Yankees mauled Giants ace Logan Webb, who was making his fifth straight Opening Day start for San Francisco. They scored five times against Webb in the second inning and twice more in the fifth. Webb gave up seven runs (six earned) and nine hits in five frames, striking out seven and walking one. He had not given up as many as seven runs in a single start since July 10, 2024.
- With one out in the Yankee second, Giancarlo Stanton singled and then Jazz Chisholm was hit by a pitch. José Caballero followed with a liner to left that knocked in one run and went for a double. Facing an 0-2 count, Ryan McMahon, the next batter, swatted a slow grounder that passed through the middle and plated two more runs. TrentGrisham followed with a two-run triple on a one-hopper to the wall in center field. Grisham was the first Yankee with a triple on Opening Day since Johnny Damon in 2009, which turned out to be a good year for the franchise.
- In the fifth, Cody Bellinger, Ben Rice and Stanton ripped hard singles to start the inning. Stanton’s was clocked at 114 mph off the bat and drove in the sixth run of the game. The Yanks added another tally on a throwing error by shortstop Adames for a 7-0 lead.
- Baseball history was made in the top of the fourth inning when Caballero became the first player ever to challenge a ball-strike call under the new ABS system, which is starting this season. On the first pitch of the inning, Webb threw a sinker that veered up and in and was called a strike. Caballero tapped his helmet to challenge the call, but ABS upheld the strike call by plate umpire Bill Miller. The Yankees lost one of their challenges as a result, but it didn't cost them and ended up being the lone challenge in the game. Caballero eventually grounded out, but he’ll always have his spot as the first MLB player to challenge a ball-strike call.
- After Fried was done, Jake Bird delivered a spotless two-thirds of an inning, Brent Headrick threw a scoreless eighth and ex-Giant Camilo Doval tossed a shutout ninth.
- One blip on the night for the Yankees was Aaron Judge’s 0-for-5 night, which included four strikeouts. Judge fanned three times against Webb and once against KeatonWinn. Judge did not fan four times in a game during the entire 2025 season. He finally hit a fair ball in the ninth, grounding out to short.
Highlights
Max Fried escapes the first inning scoreless! pic.twitter.com/NEi0Gc2bbx
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 26, 2026
Jose Caballero drives in the first run of the season! pic.twitter.com/gTIPEexbhw
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 26, 2026
Ryan McMahon makes it 3-0 with a 2-run knock! pic.twitter.com/o8dWezkhaV
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 26, 2026
5-0 YANKEES!
— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) March 26, 2026
A 2-run triple for Trent Grisham! pic.twitter.com/AYco3E5bAU
What's next
Thursday is an off day as the rest of baseball gets underway. Right-hander Cam Schlittler gets the ball for Friday's 4:35 p.m. ET first pitch against left-hander Robbie Ray.