Aaron Judge hit a home run in his first at-bat of the season at Yankee Stadium and drove in three runs as the New York Yankees continued their strong start with an 8-2 victory over the Miami Marlins on Friday afternoon.
The Yankees improved to 6-1 for the second time in three seasons.
After going 3-for-24 on New York’s six-game trip through San Francisco and Seattle, Judge followed a leadoff walk by Trent Grisham by hitting a 1-1 pitch from Miami’s Eury Perez (0-1) into the left field seats to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead in the first inning.
Judge also was hit on the right side of his chest by a Perez fastball with the bases loaded to extend the lead to 4-1 after the Yankees drew four walks in the second. Judge finished with two hits and reached base in four of his five plate appearances.
Ben Rice added a home run in the seventh inning and added a two-run double in the eighth for the Yankees, who are outscoring opponents 32-8 so far.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero stole two bases apiece and the speedy infielders each scored in the second. Austin Wells added a run for New York when he scored on a wild pitch by Tyler Phillips in the sixth.
The Yankees stole five bases and drew 11 walks in the victory.
New York’s Will Warren (1-0) allowed solo homers to Xavier Edwards and Owen Caissie among four hits in 5 2/3 innings. Warren struck out six, did not walk a batter and exited after allowing singles to Edwards and Agustin Ramirez in the sixth.
New York starters have allowed four runs this season.
Tim Hill stranded two in the sixth for the Yankees and Jake Bird pitched a perfect seventh. Brett Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough each pitched an inning.
Edwards homered two batters into the contest to give the Marlins a 1-0 lead and Caissie connected with one out in the fifth after Warren retired the previous 12 hitters.
Perez (0-1) allowed four runs on two hits in four innings. He struck out four but issued a career-worst six walks.
After hitting .290 in six games to open the season against the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox, the Marlins had one at-bat with a runner in scoring position.
