Yankees' home opener: Aaron Judge, Ben Rice provide power, pitching limits Marlins

The Yankees gave fans every reason to believe this year could be a great one with MLB’s best start in the first week-plus, and they got to see it in person for the first time with Friday’s relatively sweat-free win in the Bronx.

After opening with five wins on a six-game road trip, the Yankees beat the Marlins, 8-2, in their home opener in front of 48,788 at sold-out Yankee Stadium.

The Yankees (6-1) tied their second-best start through seven decisions in franchise history.

“It’s early, but you love the fact that you get off to this kind of start because wins are precious,” Aaron Boone said.

Shutdown pitching highlighted the Yankees’ road trip, and it was more of the same Friday. Will Warren allowed both runs in a steady 5 2⁄3 innings and Tim Hill, Jake Bird, Brent Headrick and Ryan Yarbrough faced the minimum in relief.

Yankees pitchers have allowed only eight runs, matching the fewest allowed through seven games in MLB history.

The four-man staff of Max Fried, Cam Schlittler, Warren and Ryan Weathers is 5-0 with a 0.92 ERA, a 0.69 WHIP and 41 strikeouts in 39 1⁄3 innings.

“It’s friendly competition,” said Warren, who struck out six and walked none. “We’re all rooting on each other and every guy wants to keep it rolling, so I think that’s a good thing.”

Aaron Judge (2-for-3, three RBIs) hit a two-run homer in the first that gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead they didn’t relinquish. Ben Rice (2-for-5, three RBIs) hit a solo shot in the seventh that made it 6-2 and a two-run double in the eighth. The two have totaled five homers and 14 RBIs through seven games.

A few quick takeaways on Will Warren/the rotation, Aaron Judge and Ben Rice following the Yankees’ 8-2 win over the Marlins in their home opener. pic.twitter.com/gfTv96anv0

— Ben Dickson (@bendickson__) April 3, 2026

The Yankees went 1-for-13 with runners in scoring position but walked 11 times and had five steals, two apiece by Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Jose Caballero.

“Really good job by them today of being smartly aggressive,” Boone said.

Warren allowed the runs on two solo home runs — a first-inning blast by Mineola-born Xavier Edwards and a fifth-inning shot by Owen Caissie that cut the Marlins’ deficit to 4-2 — but retired 12 straight between the homers, the first two allowed by the Yankees this season.

Warren exited with men on first and second in the sixth after back-to-back two-out singles, the latter a 48.6-mph dribbler that Agustin Ramirez beat out. Hill induced a 1-3 groundout by Liam Hicks to end the threat.

“[Warren’s] awesome,” Rice said. “His stuff has always been so good. But you just see that competitor come out in him, especially in this type of environment, home opener. We saw it last year a lot, and I think it’s going to continue this year.”

Rice, who started 0-for-3 with three strikeouts, provided loud insurance runs with his 110.9-mph, 353-foot screamer into the short porch in rightfield and his 101.1-mph, 360-foot double off the rightfield wall. After hitting 26 homers with a .836 OPS last year, Rice has a .409/.500/.864 slash line this season.

“I think Benny can really hit,” Boone said. “I think he’s a middle-of-the-order hitter and is going to be for a long time, and hopefully that means he’s in those conversations [as one of baseball’s best hitters] because he keeps getting better, too. He’s fun to watch, and he’s got a lot of confidence — rightfully so.”

The Yankees scored two runs in the second without producing a hit in the inning, extending their lead to 4-1. Chisholm had a leadoff walk and stole second and third, Caballero walked with one out and stole second, and Ryan McMahon walked to load the bases. Trent Grisham walked and Judge was hit by a pitch to make it 4-1, keeping the bases loaded with one out. But the Yankees let 6-8 Eury Perez, who lasted four innings, off the hook as Cody Bellinger grounded into a 5-2 forceout and Rice struck out swinging to end the inning.

The Yankees also scored in the sixth without recording a hit in the inning as Austin Wells came home on a wild pitch.

“We’re finding different ways to score runs. Especially when our pitching staff’s doing what they’ve been doing the past couple games, it makes it easy on us as an offense, just get one run,” Judge said. “But guys laying down bunts, guys moving runners over, guys trying to take an extra base when they can.

“It’s just little things like that. If we do that over 162 and into the postseason, good things are going to happen.”

Notes & quotes: Cody Bellinger made a circus catch in the ninth inning to rob Edwards. He backtracked, had the ball ricochet off the heel of his glove and — with his body facing the leftfield wall — made a sweeping backhanded motion to catch it before it hit the ground. He then leaned against the wall with his arms raised, wearing a smile. “I definitely got lucky,” he said . . . Carlos Rodon (elbow), who suffered a recent setback with hamstring tightness, hopes to get on the mound Saturday. He said “it’s been trending in the right direction” and wants to stay around the 50-pitch mark. The timeline for a rehab assignment is to be determined, with his next outing likely in a controlled environment, but he hopes it could be next week . . . Boone said Anthony Volpe (shoulder) is scheduled to make a rehab start in “the middle of the month.”