SAN FRANCISCO — TheNew York Yankeesheard all about that effusive energy coming out of theSan Francisco Giants' clubhouse, that ol' college spirit that was going to be a game-changer inMajor League Baseball, and how the Yankees would be the first to bear witness to the new sheriff in town.
Well, by the end of the night, the Yankees were the ones who letGiants rookie manager Tony Vitelloknow that energy can be nice, but it's absolutely worthless when you have a pitcher that can shove that energy where the McCovey Cove kayaks can't float.
The Yankees, behind Max Fried's brilliant performance, completely shut down the Giants,7-0, on Wednesday night inthe 2026 season opener, with all of that energy vanishing into the night in front of a sellout crowd of 40,856 at Oracle Park.
The Yankees, with Fried giving up just two hits in 6 1/3 innings, with the seven-run defeat equaling the Giants' most lopsided in a season opener.
The Giants had one hit in the first inning.
Another hit in the fourth inning.
One in the eighth inning.
That was it.
It was the Giants' fewest hits on Opening Day since April 12, 1965.
A general view as a smoke flag fires during the national anthem before the game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees on Opening Day at Oracle Park on March 25, 2026 in San Francisco, Calif." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Baseball returns as Yankees, Giants face off in start to MLB season
A general view as a smoke flag fires during the national anthem before the game between the San Francisco Giants and the New York Yankees onOpening Dayat Oracle Park on March 25, 2026 in San Francisco, Calif.
"We could nitpick,'' Vitello said, "but this wasn't a March Madness game where we drew up the wrong play at the end."
It was a complete and thoroughly ugly beatdown by the Bronx Bombers, but it could have been much worse.
Can you imagine the damage the Yankees could have done if Aaron Judge didn'tstrike out four timesin the first six innings, becoming the first reigning MVP to strike out four times in a season opener?
Or, what if Fried actually had his good stuff this evening.
"It's really a testament to just how good he is and how he can beat you in different ways,'' Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "I thought it some ways it was a bit of a grind for him tonight, kind of in and out of rhythm a little bit. It's just his arsenal is so vast even though he was a little effectively wild, it makes you have to account for a lot of things ...
"I mean, that's what an ace looks like when he's grinding, but what a tone he set for us.''
The only time the Yankees lost anything the entire night was in the fifth inning when Jose Caballero became thefirst player in history to employ the ABS challenge. He argued that a strike called by veteran home plate umpire Bill Miller should be a ball, only for the call to be confirmed by replay, with the Yankees losing the challenge.
"I wanted to go for it,'' Caballero said. "I think it's really good to keep everyone accountable and give us a chance to see if we are good with the strike zone or not.''
Well, if nothing else, at least he will go down in baseball history.
"It's cool,'' he said. "I just wish it was the other way around.''
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It turned out that would be the biggest suspense of the night with the Yankees pounding out 10 hits, with every hitter in the lineup but Judge collecting at least one hit, and either scoring or driving in a run.
"This is a lineup that can do this often,'' Caballero said. "We just trust one another.''
Says leadoff hitter Trent Grisham, who became the first Yankee to triple on Opening Day since Johnny Damon in 2009: "It's fun to be part of this team. Just seems like we have those stretches were we can continue to put good at-bat after good at-bat.''
The Yankees showed their depth for all of theNetflix viewershipto see. It started off innocently enough with Giants ace Logan Webb retiring Ben Rice to lead off the second inning, but suddenly, he watched everything spiral out of control.
Giancarlo Stanton became the Yankees' first baserunner of the game with a single to center. Webb then hit Jazz Chisholm in the shoulder on a 92.5-mph sinker. Caballero ripped a single to left field, scoring Stanton. Webb got ahead 0-and-2 on No. 8 hitter Ryan McMahon, only for McMahon to flip a changeup to center field for two runs. No. 9 hitter Austin Wells followed with a single.
Grisham became the sixth consecutive Yankee to reach base, punishing Webb with a two-run triple to the right-center-field gap for a 5-0 lead.
And the rout was on.
"It happened fast,'' Wells said. "It was awesome. I was really cool to watch and be a part of."
The Yankees blistered Webb for nine hits and seven runs (six earned) in just five innings. It matched the most runs he gave up in a start in San Francisco in his career, spanning 91 starts.
It was a direct contrast to Fried's domination. He opened the game by walking three-time batting champion Luis Arraez on four pitches, and when cleanup hitter Willy Adames came to the plate, the Giants already had runners on the corners with only one out. No problem. He struck out Adames on a 95-mph cutter. And Jung Hoo Lee hit into an inning-ending groundout the next pitch.
The Giants didn't reach second base again until the eighth inning, well after Fried left the game.
"It was one of those outings where you just got to try to figure out how to get it done when you aren't the most locked in,'' said Fried, who went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA last year, "especially coming out of the gate. I definitely was searching. But when the guys go out there and put up five runs in the second, it just allows you to take a deep breath and it just allowed you to take a deep breath ...
"One through nine [in the lineup] can beat you, and we obviously have the best player in the world hitting for us, but we also have a lot of guys being able to support him.''
It was just one game in a long, grueling season, but if nothing else, well, maybe the Yankees' idea of running it back with virtually the same team as last year just might work.
"Look, we're confident,'' Boone said. "I know they're confident in their ability to have good at-bats and put up runs. But we're just one game into this thing.
"We've still got a long ways to go to prove that, and I think we have a chance to do that.''
Follow Bob Nightengale onBlueskyand X@Bnightengale.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Yankees humble Giants behind Max Fried, potent lineup