BALTIMORE – A day later, the achievement was no less remarkable.
The Yankees started Tuesday night’s 15-3 thrashing of the Orioles with Trent Grisham, Aaron Judge and Ben Rice hitting back-to-back-to-back homers in a span of five pitches thrown by overmatched Baltimore righthander Kyle Gibson.
After Paul Goldschmidt grounded out, Cody Bellinger went deep, making it four homers in a five-batter span.
In itself, the outburst was astounding as it marked just the 11th time in major league history a trio hit three straight homers to begin a game.
More astounding? The Yankees were responsible for the 10th time, doing it one month earlier on March 29 when Paul Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Judge homered, on three consecutive pitches, off former Yankee Nestor Cortes, now with the Brewers.
The Yankees became the first team in history to accomplish the feat twice in a single season.
“I definitely haven’t seen anything like it,” Aaron Boone, in his eighth season as Yankees manager and a third-generation big-leaguer, said afterward. “It’s hard to wrap your head around that.”
Grisham started the onslaught with a leadoff homer, taking Gibson deep on a 1-and-0 cutter, the outfielder’s eight homer of the season. That, very momentarily, tied him with Judge for team-high.
Very momentarily because Judge came next and, swinging at a first-pitch sinker, swatted it over the wall in right for homer No. 9.
“I can’t let him have that,” Judge said with a smile of Grisham tying him for the team lead in home runs. “I’m happy he gave us the lead and we were tied for a second, but I had to take that back.”
After the Judge blast, Rice roped a 0-and-1 changeup to right, the DH’s seventh homer of the year (he added No. 8, tying Grisham, in the second).
“It just shows we’ve got a lot of depth in the lineup,” Rice said, referencing the March 29 first inning. “I know Judgey was part of the first one, but it was different guys this time. We’ve got a lot of different guys that can do it.”
How to follow up that kind of performance?
“You hear ‘turn the page’ all the time if you have a tough one,” Boone said before Wednesday night’s game. “Kind of have to do the same when you have a big night … unfortunately, you can’t take some of those runs with you into the next day.”
The two historic first-inning homer barrages aside, the Yankees in the first month of the season have provided an emphatic rejoinder to those questioning what would happen to their offense without Juan Soto.
The Yankees entered Tuesday night leading MLB in home runs (51), batting average (.269), on-base percentage (.352), slugging (.481), total bases (493) and times on base (413). They lead the AL in runs (173) and runs per game (5.77).
Those questions about the offense sans Soto, it should be pointed out, came in the offseason not only from outside the organization but inside it as well.
There was the thought, however, that the lineup might be deeper overall 1-9 with the additions of veterans like Goldschmidt and Bellinger, as well as the hope for continued growth from young players such as Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, Jasson Dominguez and Rice. The first three have ridden a bit of a roller coaster the first month but Rice has been among the early-season surprises in the entire sport. Judge has had the kind of opening month that already has him set as the favorite to win his third AL MVP, and second straight, and Grisham, like Rice, has been a surprise.
“I thought we had a chance to still be really good offensively, just maybe in a different way,” Boone said. “I think we’re a little more diverse, a little more athletic. We were counting on some young players emerging and getting better. I think that’s happening and has happened.”
Extra bases
Jazz Chisholm Jr., who left Tuesday’s game with right oblique discomfort, was experiencing “some soreness” in the affected area Wednesday and is still scheduled for an MRI when the club returns to New York … Boone said the “hope” is DJ LeMahieu (left calf strain), whose rehab assignment was paused this week when the infielder received a cortisone shot in his hip, will resume playing Friday with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
