Cam Schlittler leads way in Yankees’ one-hit shutout of Giants as Aaron Judge blasts first homer

SAN FRANCISCO — Turns out, the sky is not actually falling — it was just Aaron Judge’s moonshot landing beyond the left field wall. 

Judge, after inexplicably starting the season hitless in his first seven at-bats, finally got on the board Friday — in emphatic fashion. 

With the Yankees and Giants knotted in a scoreless stalemate in the sixth inning, Judge put together a tough at-bat — with some help from the automated ball-strike system — that ended with him clobbering a two-run homer off left-hander Robbie Ray. 

Along with a dominant outing from Cam Schlittler, who combined with four relievers for a one-hit shutout, Judge’s blast lifted the Yankees to a 3-0 win over the Giants on a beautiful Friday afternoon at a sold-out Oracle Park. 

Schlittler, who offered a potential preview of big things to come in his sophomore season, cruised through 5 ¹/₃ innings on a limited pitch count before Fernando Cruz, Tim Hill, Camilo Doval and David Bednar finished off the gem. The Yankees have still not allowed a run through two games after Max Fried spearheaded Wednesday’s shutout. 

Giancarlo Stanton also went deep, two batters after Judge homered, as the Yankees played the long ball after sticking to small ball in their season-opening win Wednesday.

That night, Judge was the only Yankee not to record a hit, and some of the reaction that followed bordered on absurd just one game into the season. 

Alas, the back-to-back AL MVP did not forget how to hit and got off the schneid when the Yankees needed it most. 

Judge walked to the plate in the sixth inning having struck out in five of his first seven at-bats, including his previous one against Ray.

But after getting a 1-0 strike turned into a ball on an ABS challenge, Judge worked a full count and then unloaded on a 93 mph fastball, crushing it 405 feet down the left field line and 109.1 mph off the bat, just keeping it fair for the 2-0 lead. 

It marked Judge’s fourth home run in five career games at Oracle Park, where he grew up going to games from his home in Linden, Calif. 

Soon after, Stanton one-upped Judge by demolishing a 414-foot shot off reliever José Butto for his first home run of the year that made it 3-0. 

That was enough offensive support on a day when Schlittler was untouchable, even on a limited pitch count. After having his buildup slightly delayed early in spring training by back inflammation, Schlittler made the most of his 68 pitches while giving up just one baserunner — a harmless two-out double by Heliot Ramos in the second inning. 

The 25-year-old right-hander struck out eight, half of them on his four-seam fastball that averaged 98.5 mph. He offered another glimpse of why the Yankees are so high on him coming off a rookie year in which he dazzled after a midseason call-up and turned in an historic start against his hometown Red Sox in the AL wild-card series. 

Schlittler came out pounding the strike zone, including a 10-pitch, 10-strike first inning with an assist from Austin Wells, who had the only ball turned into strike three via an ABS challenge. 

Hill and Doval were especially impactful in relief. Hill entered with one on and nobody out in the seventh and struck out Rafael Devers and Willy Adames before getting Jung Hoo Lee to ground out. Doval then struck out the side in the eighth against his former team.