Aaron Judge homers again, Yankees pitching gets job done in 3-1 win over Giants

The Yankees pitching staff worked in and out of trouble against San Francisco’s lineup, as New York defeated the Giants, 3-1, on Saturday night to complete the three-game sweep.

Ben Rice drove in two runs and Aaron Judge mashed a homer for the second straight game to provide the offense, while Yankees pitchers induced four double plays to keep the Giants hitters off the board. The Yankees outscored the Giants, 13-1, in the three-game sweep.

New York has now started 3-0 for the third straight season.

Here are the takeaways…

-The Yankees had a chance early on in this one. Cody Bellinger hit a two-out triple, but was stranded when Rice grounded out to end the threat. Rice would get his chance again in the third, which was set up by ABS.

Trent Grisham challenged a called third strike and won, working a one-out walk two pitches later. Bellinger followed with a single to put runners on the corners for Rice. The first baseman lined a down down the right field line to score two runs. Giancarlo Stanton followed with a hard-hit single to left fielder Heliot Ramos, who gunned down Rice trying to score from second base. Stanton finished 2-for-4 and has had two hits in each of his first three games.

–Will Warren entered his first start of the season after an impressive spring. It looked to carry over early, with the young right-hander getting the first two batters rather quickly. However, back-to-back singles from Luis Arraez and Rafael Devers — with an Arraez steal of third thrown in — the Giants had runners on the corners with two outs, but Warren bounced back to strike out Ramos to end the threat.

After a ho-hum second for Warren, the Giants finally broke through in the third. Jung Hoo Lee led off with a double and Matt Chapman singled up the middle to score a run. It’s the first run the Giants have scored this season after being shut out in the first two games. It snapped a streak of 20 scoreless innings to start the season, tying their longest such stretch to start the season (1909). Warren would get out of the inning, but he wouldn’t last long because he wasn’t efficient enough.

Under a strict pitch count, Warren could only get one out in the fifth before he walked Lee. At 83 pitches (54 strikes), Warren allowed one run on five hits, two walks, while striking out three batters.

-Judge, after homering in his last game, would have an encore, blasting a shot in the fifth inning to put the Yankees up 3-1. The longball went 383 feet with an exit velocity of 102.1 mph. Judge finished 1-for-4 with a strikeout. He’s now 2-for-13 with seven strikeouts. Both hits this season are home runs.

-In relief of Warren, the Yankees’ bullpen faltered a bit. Brent Headrick was the first one out and got the final two outs of the fifth, but allowed a leadoff double to Devers in the sixth. Jake Bird was called on to limit the damage, but he allowed a single to Ramos to put runners on the corners with no outs. Bird bounced back by getting Willy Adames to strike out swinging and Harrison Bader to ground into a doubleplay, helped by the tandem of Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero — and an outstretched Rice — to end the threat.

The rest of the Yankees bullpen did its job. The combination of Tim Hill — who got Devers to ground into an inning-ending double play in the eighth — and David Bednar got the final seven outs to complete the sweep. The ninth wasn’t easy for Bednar, however.

The closer walked Ramos — helped by an overturned strike-three call — and gave up a single to Adames. Bednar then got Bader to strike out and Patrick Bailey to ground into a doubleplay as the Yankees held on for the win.

Here’s how the bullpen broke down on Saturday…

• Headrick: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 K

• Bednar: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 K

Game MVP: Jake Bird

With the Yankees only up by two runs, Bird worked his way out of a tough situation to preserve the lead. Without that, the game is completely turned on its head.

Highlights