What we learned when Judge hammers Giants in Oracle Park opener originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — When the Giants pressed Aaron Judge in court two years ago, they enlisted the help of Steph Curry, putting Judge in touch with Curry’s camp during his two-day visit to the Bay Area.
The hope was that the two stars could be together in this corner of the city for a long, long time, and on Friday night the two were at Oracle Park. Curry brought his family and some teammates to the game and helped Dr. Clarence B. Jones throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Afterward, Curry sat back and watched the show, but that wasn’t what the Giants had in mind.
Judge arrived as a visitor for the first time and wasted no time in taking over. His three-run homer put the New York Yankees into the lead in the third inning and he later hit a second to center, leading the Yankees to a 6-2 victory, their 40th of the season. The Linden native did everything the Giants imagined when prepared to empty the coffers for him in December 2022. He made the stadium look small and certainly looked like he was having fun.
Judge watch 2.0
All eyes before the game were on Judge, who was making his first appearance at Oracle Park since a dinner at the Gotham Club. during free agency which was attended by Logan Webb, Brandon Crawford, Rich Aurilia and team executives. A row of cameras was waiting for Judge as he entered the dugout and drew the largest batting practice crowd at Third and King in years, surpassing even Shohei Ohtani’s visit earlier this month.
Judge was met with boos in his first at-bat and hit a hard grounder to short that was initially (correctly) ruled an error on Brett Wisely but was later (inexplicably) changed to a single. The next time, the judge left no doubts.
With runners on the corners and one out in the third, Hicks threw a 3-2 splitter that stood. Umpire demolished him, and three innings later he hit a sinker into the net in center, which isn’t easy to do on cold nights.
Judge missed the Yankees’ last trip to Oracle Park in 2019 because of an oblique strain, but he now has four home runs for his hometown team in four career games. The second home run gave him an MLB-leading 20 points for the season and 14 in May.
Hell of time
Trenton Brooks had to wait 638 minor league games and more than 2,600 at-bats to be called up to the big leagues. But one day, he’ll be able to tell his grandchildren that his first MLB hit was against the Yankees.
Brooks pulled a cutter to right on his first at-bat and then pointed his cap at a cheering bench. He’s from the San Diego area, so he had a lot of family here for the Phillies series and a good number of them stuck around long enough to see him get his success on Friday. In the sixth, Brooks drew a walk from Marcus Stroman – another former Giants target – and scored on Mike Yastrzemski’s double.
New high for Hicks
Hicks threw 89 shots in five, so it was a slight surprise when he faced Judge for the third time in the sixth. With three lefties in the next four roster spots, manager Bob Melvin tried to steal a way out before turning to lefty Taylor Rogers. The judge made him pay.
Hicks remained and faced two more batters before leaving after a career-high 101 pitches. The right-hander was charged with four wins in 5 1/3 innings. In 12 starts, he has a 2.70 ERA.
