Yankees again start with three homers, trounce Orioles 15-3

Ben Rice homered in each of the first two innings and Aaron Judge hit one of New York's four first-inning solo shots as the Yankees belted the host Baltimore Orioles 15-3 on Tuesday.

Yankees starter Carlos Rodon took a perfect game into the sixth inning while his teammates kept doing damage at the plate.

New York's first three batters of the game -- Trent Grisham, Judge and Rice -- homered, and then with one out, Cody Bellinger knocked one over the fence. Austin Wells added a ninth-inning blast.

The Yankees became the first team in major league history to open a game with three straight home runs twice in the same season.

It was a rude treatment for Kyle Gibson, who was in his first big-league game of the year and back with the Orioles after being one of the team's best pitchers in 2023. Gibson (0-1) was tagged for nine runs on 11 hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Rice, who had three of New York's 19 hits, scored four runs. Judge, who drew two walks to go with a pair of hits, crossed the plate three times before he was lifted for a seventh-inning pinch runner.

Judge has nine home runs and Rice and Grisham have both hit eight. Wells has five.

The Yankees made it 5-0 in the first inning on Anthony Volpe's RBI double.

The lead grew to 12-0 through five innings.

After Baltimore's Emmanuel Rivera led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, Jorge Mateo doubled to break up Rodon's no-hit bid. The Orioles put up a run on Dylan Carlson's groundout.

That was the first earned run allowed by Rodon (4-3) in a stretch covering more than 17 innings.

Gunnar Henderson hit his third homer of the year to lead off the seventh against Rodon, marking the last batter the left-hander faced. Rodon finished by allowing just two hits and issuing one walk with seven strikeouts.

The series is even at one game apiece going into the Wednesday finale.

--Field Level Media