Yankees bring MLB-best staff into home opener vs. Marlins

Strong pitching performances helped the New York Yankees and Miami Marlins get off to fast starts during the opening week of the season.

The teams now get together Friday afternoon for the Yankees' home opener in the Bronx.

It is New York's first home game since getting eliminated from the American League Division Series with a 5-2 loss in Game 4 against the Toronto Blue Jays on Oct. 8.

On a West Coast road trip to open the current campaign, New York won five of six against the San Francisco Giants and Seattle Mariners. The Yankees now get 13 of their next 16 games at home.

The Yankees return home with a major league-leading 1.01 ERA and .174 opponents' batting average heading into MLB play Thursday. New York's pitchers also allowed the fewest walks (12) in the AL and the fewest hits in the majors (33) and are the only MLB club that has not allowed an opponent to hit a home run.

New York concluded its first trip with a 5-3 win over the Mariners on Wednesday afternoon. After seven stellar innings from Max Fried on Tuesday, Cam Schlittler allowed two hits in 6 1/3 innings Wednesday.

"I think this team as a whole, we're just feeding off each other and rolling with it," Schlittler said. "To take the series (at Seattle) is a good feeling, and we'll go home confident to play on Friday."

The Yankees batted .227 during the opening trip but got enough timely hitting to compliment the pitching performances. Paul Goldschmidt hit a three-run homer Wednesday while Ben Rice also homered and is hitting .412 (7-for-17) as he begins his first full season at first base.

Giancarlo Stanton got a day off Wednesday and returns home after hitting .500 (10-for-20) in his first five games.

The Marlins showed a 17-game improvement when they won 79 games last season and are off to their first 5-1 start since 2020. It is their sixth 5-1 start in team history.

Miami posted a 2.83 ERA through its first six games, tied for fourth best in baseball heading into Thursday's play, and held opponents to a .185 average -- the best in the National League.

The Marlins are starting their first road trip after outscoring the Colorado Rockies and Chicago White Sox by a 33-18 margin. Miami batted an MLB-best .290 through its first homestand, and piled up 13 hits in a 10-0 rout of the White Sox on Wednesday afternoon while Sandy Alcantara allowed three singles in a 93-pitch complete game.

"Offensively the last two days have been really fantastic, a lot of quality at-bats," Miami manager Clayton McCullough said. "We ran the bases very well and guys had some very good reads on some base hits. I loved that we found some different ways to score and pitched very well."

Liam Hicks hit a two-run home run, drove in four runs and is batting .467 so far. Xavier Edwards has been on base each game and is off to a 9-for-22 start (.409).

Will Warren (0-0, 2.08 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Yankees on Friday and faces the Marlins for the first time after he was left with a no-decision in Saturday's 3-1 win at San Francisco.

Warren allowed one run on five hits in 4 1/3 innings while getting nine groundball outs. It was the 20th time since the start of last season the right-hander permitted two runs or fewer.

Eury Perez (0-0, 3.86) is scheduled to start after he opened the with a no-decision. Perez allowed three runs on five hits to go along with eight strikeouts in Saturday's 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Perez contributed to the Marlins three-game sweep of the Yankees in Miami last season by allowing two hits in six scoreless innings while throwing 88 pitches in a 2-0 win. He also allowed four runs in four innings in a no-decision against the Yankees on Aug. 13, 2023.

--Field Level Media