Yanks Sweep Giants with Rice, Judge, Pitching & the 4-6-3 DP. NY 3 SF 1

March 29, 2026 paperbacklou 2026 0
Aaron Judge bangs a HR off the rook of an ambulance behind the wall in left for a 3-1 Yankee lead.

Imagine being a fan of the San Francisco Giants this morning — who started the season with a 3-game series at home against the Yankees, and saw their team go up against NY’s vaunted pitching staff and get SWEPT.

The Giants got 1 run in the 3 games — in the 3rd inning of this game to make it 2-1 NY at the time. And that was it, as Will Warren and the Yankee bullpen — and infield — shut them down from there.

The Yanks turned 4 (four) 4-6-3 double plays on the day to get them out of jams — with Jazz Chisholm Jr., Jose Caballero, and Ben Rice looking like Tinkers-to-Evers-to-Chance.

Warren was great — getting into a few rough spots but as usual showing moxie with his back to the wall to get out of any jams. Then came lefty Brent Headrick, righty Jake Bird, lefty Tim Hill, and righty David Bednar for the save.

Offense was provided by Ben Rice — who ripped a 2-RBI double off the wall in right to put NY ahead 2-0 in the 3rd, and Aaron Judge, who banged a Homer off the roof of the ambulance parked behind the fence in left in the 5th for a 3-1 Yankee lead.

“Benny’s great — obviously a huge hit to get us going — probably the one ballpark it doesn’t go out — that ball was really stung,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Ben Rice’s 2-RBI double. “Continues to do things well at 1st base. Really good win for us — a good series obviously. Just some really big plays, doing little things on the bases, I thought we caught the ball really well today and in this series, and a good way to go into an off day and hopefully keep it rolling.”

NY is now 3-0; SF is now 0-3. No game Sunday as the 3-game series is over — the first game played on Wednesday to start the MLB season.

1. Rice a Ronny — and ABS Challenge — Treat

Tyler Mahle started for the Giants. The 31-year-old righty was a reliever in Texas last year but has spent most of his career as a starter — his beast season a 13-6 3.75 campaign for Cincinnati in 2021.

Mahle allowed a 2-out triple to Cody Bellinger in the 1st, but got the final out, then pitched a shutout 2nd before NY got to him in the 3rd.

Trent Grisham, sporting black shades on the brilliant sunny day that made him look like a mafioso, challenged a 3rd strike call via the ABS (Automatic Balls & Strikes) system and won the challenge — then worked a 1-out walk. Grisham then moved to 3rd on a 2-out single by Cody Bellinger.

Ben Rice then ripped a double off the wall in right for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Giancarlo Stanton followed Rice with a single to left, but Rice was thrown out at home.

2. Warren Great, with Moxie

Will Warren became the 3rd pitcher to start a game for the Yanks this year. Once Carlos Rodon and Gerrit Cole return in May, Warren is slated to drop down to the Yanks’ #5 starter, edging ahead of Luis Gil after a great Spring Training.

And Warren — who Pitching Ninja calls a “Michael King Clone” — was great, and showed moxie whenever his back is to the wall as he usually does.

In this game that happened in the bottom of the 1st. After getting the first 2 outs on groundouts, Luis Arraez singled to center and Rafael Devers singled to left, putting runners on 1st and 2nd.

Warren went 1-2 on next batter Heliot Ramos, but Ramos hung in — fouling off pitch after pitch to work the count 3-2. On pitch #10, Warren struck out Ramos swinging at a 96-MPH four-seam fastball to end the threat. Moxie.

Warren had an easy 2nd inning, but allowed a leadoff double to Jung Hoo Lee in the 3rd, and RBI single to Matt Chapman the next batter, making it a 2-1 ballgame, NY up.

With the fans at Oracle Park making a lot of noise as the Giants had their 1st run of the series and were looking to rally for more with the runner on 1st and the heart of the lineup coming up — Warren proceeded to strike out Luis Arraez and Rafael Devers swinging, and get Heliot Ramos to ground out. More Moxie.

The First 4-6-3 DP — Chisholm to Caballero to Rice

Warren allowed a 1-out single to Harrison Bader in the 4th, but then got a grounder to Jazz Chisholm Jr. at 2nd that was turned into a double play.

And Warren got the 1st out of the 5th, but walked the next batter Lee and was removed at 83 pitches. NY was up 3-1 but Warren would not get the win due to pitch count.

“I thought the stuff was really good,” said Boone about Warren afterwards. “They pressured him, especially in some 2-strike situations where he had a chance to put them away. I think he had a couple walks with 2 strikes, a couple of situations where he gave up hits where he had count leverage. Just not as sharp with his command, and as a result they drove his count up pretty good. But overall, got big outs when he needed to — 1 run into the 5th inning; set us up for a victory.”

Austin Wells helped too behind the plate — challenging 2 pitch calls and winning both — turning balls into strikes. “Austin was great tonite — just in every way,” said Boone. “Had some really good challenges. But just the way he caught this whole weekend, I thought was superb.”

3. Judge Bangs HR Off Ambulance in Left

The Giants brought in lefty reliever Ryan Borucki in the 5th as Mahle’s pitch count was up at 80 pitches, and he struck out lefty Austin Wells and got lefty Trent Grisham to ground out to the catcher.

But Aaron Judge is a righty and the best hitter in baseball at that — and Judge ripped a high drive to right that banged off the top of the ambulance parked behind the left field wall. Yankees 3 Giants 1.

4. Bird Gets Out of Jam in 6th with K and 4-6-3 DP

Brent Headrick relieved Warren in the 5th as Warren’s pitch count got over 80 — and got 2 easy outs — striking out Matt Chapman and getting Arraez to fly out to right.

Headrick allowed a leadoff double to lefty Rafael Devers in the 5th however. Righty Jake Bird came in and immediately allowed a single to Heliot Ramos — putting runners at 1st and 3rd in a 3-1 game.

The 2nd 4-6-3 DP — Chisholm to Caballero to Rice

But Bird struck out Wiley Adames, and got Harrison Bader to hit a grounder to 2nd that Jazz spun to Jose Caballero at 2nd who rifled a throw to Rice for a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning and the threat — the 2nd 4-6-3 DP turned in 2 innings by the Yanks. There would be more to come.

5. Yank Pen Holds Fort & Another 4-6-3 DP

Bird got the first 2 outs of the 7th, then yielded to Tim Hill who struck out Lee for the final out.

Hill got the first out of the 8th, but allowed a single to Luis Arraez, and again the Oracle Park fans started making noise as the Giants had the tying run at the plate and Rafael Devers up.

Yet Again — a 4-6-3 DP — Chisholm to Caballero to Rice

But again — NY — this time Hill — got a grounder to 2nd — and Jazz, Caballero, and Rice turned it into a 4-6-3 D to end the inning.

6. Bednar Refuses to Provide Anything But a Non-Agita Save

David Bednar — Mr. Non-Agita Save — came in for the 9th — and struck out Heliot Ramos to start the inning. But Ramos challenged the 3rd strike call — and the ABS system said he was right — so it was ball 3, and then Bednar walked him on the next pitch.

Wiley Adames then hit a seeing-eye single thru the infield into left and the Giants were cooking — 1st and 2nd with nobody out and the fans at Oracle Park were on their feet making noise.

But David Bednar is Mr. Non-Agita Save — and he proceeded to strike out Harrison Bader on a 2-2 splitter.

Lefty Patrick Bailey stepped up — the only player in history to hit a walkoff HR off David Bednar.

4th and Final Time — a 4-6-3 DP — Chisholm to Caballero to Rice

And so Bednar got Bailey to hit — guess what? — a grounder to Chisholm at 2nd that was turned into a 4-6-3 DP for the old ballgame.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401814734

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