SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Aaron Judge capped a spectacular May by homering twice in his first game in San Francisco and the New York Yankees beat the Giants, 6-2, on Friday night.
Judge grew up about 100 miles away in Linden and was heavily recruited in free agency by the Giants in December 2022 but decided to remain with the Yankees and signed a nine-year, $360 million contract.
He was greeted by boos in each at-bat Friday night but took little time to show the Giants and their fans what they missed out on when he spurned them in free agency.
After hitting a single in the first inning, Judge launched a three-run shot to left field in the third against Jordan Hicks (4-2) and then another solo shot in the sixth to give him a Major League-leading 20 homers.
Most of that damage has come in May with Judge hitting 14 homers and 12 doubles with 29 RBIs. His 26 extra-base hits are the most by any Yankees player in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937 and this is just the eighth time since the end of World War II that any player in the Majors had that many extra-base hits in any month.
Judge's bat has helped carry the Yankees to 14 wins in their last 18 games as they have become the fourth team ever to reach 40 wins before June 1.
He provided more than enough support for Marcus Stroman (5-2), who allowed two runs in 7 1/3 innings to get the win. The Yankees tied a franchise record set in 1981 with their 18th straight start with a pitcher going at least five innings and allowing three runs or fewer.
Hicks had a rare rough outing after allowing one earned run or fewer in seven of his first 11 starts this season but gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings against Judge and the Yankees.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Yankees: INF DJ LeMahieu and OF Giancarlo Stanton got the day off for rest.
Giants: INF Marco Luciano was placed on the 10-day IL with a right hamstring strain. The move was retroactive to Thursday...INF Casey Schmitt was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento...OF Jung Hoo Lee will have season-ending shoulder surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles...OF Michael Conforto (right hamstring) started a rehab assignment Friday with Triple-A Sacramento and SS Nick Ahmed (left wrist) will begin his Saturday...OF Ryan McKenna and C Jakson Reetz cleared waivers and were sent to Sacramento. LHP Drew Pomeranz cleared waivers but elected free agency instead of going to Minors.
UP NEXT
RHP Cody Poteet (1-0, 1.50 ERA) takes the mound in the middle game of the series for the Yankees against RHP Logan Webb (4-4, 2.74). Webb has allowed only two earned runs in his last three starts for San Francisco.