Yankees make history with another 4-homer first inning, obliterate Orioles, 15-3

Gary Phillips, New York Daily News on Apr 29, 2025

Published in Baseball

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BALTIMORE — Founded in 1903, the Yankees did not record their first four-homer first inning until March 29 of this year.

That bombardment came against a familiar face in the Brewers’ Nestor Cortes, who saw his first three pitches of the game end up in Yankee Stadium’s seats as Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge went back-to-back-to-back to open the game. Austin Wells homered later in the inning, and the Yankees ultimately won, 20-9, while clubbing a franchise-record nine home runs with a lineup full of torpedo bats.

It took exactly one month for the Yankees to repeat their first-inning first, as Orioles starter Kyle Gibson also surrendered four homers in the opening frame of the Bombers’ 15-3 win at Camden Yards on Tuesday. Like Cortes, he served up dingers to the first three batters he faced — Trent Grisham, Judge and Ben Rice – before Bellinger added a long ball of his own after a Goldschmidt groundout.

The Yankees’ latest power surge made them the first team in MLB history to start a game with three straight homers twice in one season. And while they were not as efficient as they were against Cortes, the Yanks only needed 12 Gibson pitches to record their first four homers.

It wasn’t all sunshine for the Yankees in the first frame, as Jazz Chisholm Jr. exited the game with what the team called “right flank discomfort.” But Anthony Volpe capped the first-inning outburst with an RBI double before Rice smoked another solo shot in the second inning.

The Yankees continued to pile on in the fourth inning, though they kept the ball in the field of play as Goldschmidt picked up an RBI single. Oswald Peraza, who replaced Chisholm, followed with a two-run single.

It wasn’t until then that Orioles manager Brandon Hyde mercifully removed Gibson from the game, his first big league outing of the season after not signing as a free agent until mid-March.

As Gibson departed, Orioles fans booed his 3 2/3-inning, 11-hit, nine-earned run performance. More hoots and hollers accompanied Hyde as he made his way back to Baltimore’s dugout.

Gibson wasn’t the only Orioles pitcher victimized by the Yankees, as Matt Bowman permitted an RBI single to Goldschmidt and a two-run double to Bellinger in the fifth inning.

The Yankees made it a baker’s dozen in the seventh inning when they scored on a Gunnar Henderson error. Another Orioles blunder preceded an RBI single from Pablo Reyes in the eighth.

Wells, the only Yankee without a hit at the time, ended the barrage with yet another solo home run off Brayan Baker in the ninth.

While the Yankees were busy bludgeoning Baltimore, Carlos Rodón lightly teased perfection.

The left-hander did not allow a baserunner until a leadoff walk to Emmanuel Rivera in the sixth inning. That base-on-balls elicited excitement from an Orioles crowd with little to cheer for all night.

Rodón immediately saw his no-hit bid end after that, as former Yankees prospect Jorge Mateo doubled off Camden’s right-field wall. The Orioles then put themselves on the board with a Dylan Carlson groundout.

The Orioles managed another run against Rodón in the seventh when Henderson took him deep. The blast ended Rodón’s stellar evening; he received an ovation from fans of both teams as he made his way from the mound.

While Rodón did not re-etch his name in the history books — he twirled a no-hitter with the White Sox in 2021 — he did total six innings, two hits, two earned runs, one walk and seven strikeouts over 91 pitches.

Tuesday marked Rodón’s third straight sharp start, as the Orioles’ first score off of him snapped an 18 1/3-inning streak without an earned run for the veteran. Rodón now has a 3.43 ERA this season.

The Orioles scored again on a Ryan Mountcastle sac fly off Tyler Matzek in the ninth, but the run hardly made a difference in the blowout.

With a gem and slugfest now in the rear view, the Yankees will turn their attention to a series victory on Wednesday after Baltimore won a tight opener on Monday.

Carlos Carrasco will take the ball for the Yankees. Meanwhile, Orioles starter Cade Povich will try for a better line than Gibson’s, though that shouldn’t be hard to achieve.