The New York Yankees started their West Coast trip with an emphatic power show in a 8-0 win over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on Friday night.
In Juan Soto's return to San Diego for the first time since the December trade that sent him to the Bronx, he was met with a mix of cheers and boos for his first plate appearance. That ended in a strikeout, but he quickly got revenge.
Soto started the power show with a massive two-run home run in the top of the third inning. Aaron Judge followed that up immediately with a solo shot to left field, and Giancarlo Stanton capped off the inning with a two-run home run of his own.
Gleyber Torres also went deep in the fourth inning, a 411-foot homer to deep center field.
MORE: Yankees' Aaron Judge back to being MVP candidate
Yankees vs Padres recap: New York powers their way to 8-0 win
Yankees vs Padres Box Score
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| NYY | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 0 |
| SD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
3 stars of the game
- RF Juan Soto: Of course, Soto couldn't help himself but be one of the stars of the night. His mammoth home run got the power show started, and he played a strong right field. He also came about a foot away from another home run in the seventh inning. He also added a double.
- CF Aaron Judge: He too got on the board with a home run and had another at-bat with an exit velocity of 100 miles per hour, but it wound up being a ground out. He also came through with a sac fly RBI in the first inning.
- SP Carlos Rodon: More on his outing below, but it was a fantastic start for Rodon yet again. He's making a case as the Comeback Player of the Year.
Another strong start from Carlos Rodon
Despite some heavy hitters in the Padres lineup, Rodon continued his impressive stretch. Though he only struck out two batters, Rodon allowed just four hard-hit balls. He threw a first-pitch strike to 14-of-23 batters faced. Rodon lived mostly off his fastball (54 pitches) and slider (28 pitches), accounting for 88% of his pitch selection.
Here's the final line for Rodon:
| IP | H | R (ER) | BB | K | HR | Pitches- Strikes | Whiffs | |
| Carlos Rodon | 6.0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 93 - 55 | 4 |
Quick Hits
- The trio of Juan Soto, Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton have combined for 43 home runs thus far. That's more than five teams in MLB.
- Carlos Rodon has gone at least 6.0 innings pitched in five of his last six outings. He has a 2.84 ERA during that span.
- Anthony Volpe extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a leadoff triple in the first inning.
- This marked the first time this season Juan Soto and Aaron Judge went back-to-back.
- The Yankees have now won 12 of their last 16 games and 10 of their last 12.
- Seven Yankees hitters recorded multiple hard-hit balls (exit velocity of 95 mph or greater).
- Gerrit Cole is set for another live bullpen session on Saturday.
- Jon Berti had to be helped off the field after suffering a lower body injury running out of the box in the top of the ninth inning.
What’s Next?
The Yankees and Padres continue this three-game series with the second matchup Saturday night at Petco Park with first pitch scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET.
For more Yankees coverage, check out Kevin Hickey's work on Sporting News.
