Yankees 7, Giants 3: Another West Coast win and another series victory

To riff on Dan Patrick on SportsCenter from back in the day, you can’t stop Aaron Judge right now. You can only hope to contain him. The captain has painfully taught San Francisco that lesson through the first two games of this series, launching a trio of long balls that have catalyzed the Yankee offense.

Meanwhile, Cody Poteet gave the Yankees a perfectly cromulent start filling in for Clarke Schmidt, Giancarlo Stanton hit a big home run, Juan Soto and Alex Verdugo each had multi-hit games, and the bullpen held serve. The Yankees won, 7-3, securing their 15th series victory of 2024 in 19 attempts. They’ve only lost two of them and hold an AL-best 41-19 record. Only 10 teams in franchise history have had better starts across 60 games.

June began the way that May ended for Judge. One night after dropping a pair of round-trippers on the Giants, No. 99 didn’t waste any time tormenting the team and fanbase he jilted during his free agency. With Soto on first, Judge worked one of his patented long at-bats. On the ninth pitch from typically excellent Giants starter Logan Webb, Judge demolished an 87-mph changeup.

Judge’s major league-leading 21st home run soared 464 feet into the night, giving the Yankees an early 2-0 lead.

After a scoreless second, the Yankees kept tacking on runs in the third. A single by DJ LeMahieu and an Anthony Volpe double set the table for the heart of the order. Soto capitalized, knocking a deep fly ball to left that scored DJ, gave Soto 50 RBI, and advanced Volpe.

That brought Judge to the dish and after Webb fell behind 2-0, the Giants evidently decided discretion is the better part of valor and intentionally walked the superhuman captain. An intentional walk in the third inning of an interleague game on the first of June. You can only hope to contain him.

Verdugo then stroked a ball through the left side, scoring the fourth Yankee run of the game. A Stanton double play ended the inning but the damage was done.

Poteet, called up to replace the injured Schmidt in the rotation, looked good early for the Yankees. Punctuated by a strikeout of Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, Poteet retired San Fran in order in the first. Tonight was only Poteet’s 11th career big league start, so getting off to a good start was heartening.

Poteet continued in the second, sandwiching a groundball to Rizzo at first around a pair of strikeouts. Even with a nine-pitch at-bat by Matt Chapman to start the frame, Poteet was economical early, getting back to the dugout having thrown only 26 pitches through two.

The Giants got to Poteet in the third, however. Intellectually, I know that leadoff walks don’t always score, but it feels like they do. Poteet gave the free pass to first baseman Trenton Brooks, then Casey Schmitt made Poteet pay with a two-run shot, cutting the Yankee lead in half. To Poteet’s credit though, he bounced back and retired the next three batters, capped with an inning-ending strikeout.

The Giants kept chipping away in the fifth, helped in part by an errant Volpe throw that allowed Heliot Ramos to reach second. Poteet was one out away from escape but a grounder snuck past first base, scoring Ramos to cut the Yankee lead to one, 4-3.

Ian Hamilton came in for the sixth, putting an official end to Poteet’s second Yankee start. His final line: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K. Not bad at all, as Poteet really only made one mistake on the night and was making his first appearance anywhere since May 19th due to blister issues. Hamilton, meanwhile, was up to the task, and he carved through the heart of the Giants order.

For the Giants, Webb locked in after the Yankees got to him early. It’s a good thing they managed those four runs. From the fourth inning onward, Webb allowed very little. After a triple to Soto that was misplayed in center, Webb promptly stranded him there by whiffing Judge. Stanton later singled then was promptly erased by a double play. Webb ended up going seven innings, the final four of which were annoying.

Speaking of annoying, Aaron Boone turned to lefty Caleb Ferguson for the home seventh. After a four-pitch leadoff walk, I feared for the worst. But to Ferguson’s credit, he buckled down and got through with the lead intact.

Verdugo and Stanton teamed up to give the Yankees much-appreciated breathing room in the eighth. With Judge standing on first after an infield single, Dugie tripled to deep right center, plating Judge. His three-bagger marked only the second time this decade the Yankees have hit multiple triples in the same game.

Next, Stanton clubbed a rare-for-him wall-scraper of a homer that barely stayed fair and barely cleared the fence (reminding some of Michael Morse in the 2014 NLCS). That made it 7-3, New York and 416 career long balls for Big G.

Tommy Kahnle was the next man out of the ‘pen for the Yankees in the home eighth. He held the Giants down and set the stage for Clay Holmes to enter for the ninth. Holmes, pitching in a non-save situation, made things a bit interesting but escaped without harm for the 7-3 Yankee triumph.

Tune in tomorrow at 4:05 pm EDT as New York goes for the sweep, and a 7-2 record on this road trip. It feels like I’ve seen entirely too many rough West Coast swings over the years so this has been a bit cathartic. It’s a battle of southpaws tomorrow, as Nasty Nestor Cortes faces off with 2023 NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. Then we get a day off before the Bronx Bombers return home for a series with the Twins.

Box Score