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While the New York Yankees hit 22 homers on their first homestand, then experienced mixed results on their first road trip, the San Francisco Giants continued one of their better starts in recent seasons.

The Yankees attempt to produce more powerful swings Friday night when they host the San Francisco Giants, who are off to their best 12-game start since 2003.

The Yankees went 4-2 in their first six home games when they scored 53 runs and batted .278 against the Milwaukee Brewers and Arizona Diamondbacks, while making waves for some players using torpedo bats. On their 3-3 road trip against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Detroit Tigers, New York hit four homers, scored 29 runs and batted .251.

The Yankees scored 19 runs in winning the first two games of the trip, then went 13-for-65 (.200) at the plate in the first two games in Detroit before holding on for a 4-3 victory on Wednesday afternoon. New York’s Ben Rice hit a two-run homer in the seventh inning to back a dominant effort by Max Fried (11 strikeouts, seven innings) and is hitting .306 so far.

“It felt huge,” Rice said. “Max was battling for us the whole game, kept us in it in a pitcher’s duel there early. Gave us a chance to come back in the later innings and put some runs on the board, so to come through on that was massive.”

Aaron Judge added a two-run single in the ninth inning. He is hitting .354 after getting off to a slow start last season when he finished at .322, slugged 58 homers and drove in 144 runs. Judge’s hit Wednesday wound up being the difference after Devin Williams allowed three runs for the second time this season and Mark Leiter Jr. closed out the win with his first save.

At 9-3, the Giants are off to their best 12-game start since they were 11-1 to open 2003 as part of a 13-1 start.

San Francisco earned three walk-off wins in its first homestand and headed to New York following an 8-6 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday. After being blanked in the previous two games, Mike Yastrzemski hit a game-ending two-run homer in the 10th inning and is hitting .344 so far.

Rookie Jung Hoo Lee added three hits and is hitting .333, while Wilmer Flores hit a tying homer in the eighth. The Giants totaled 12 hits Wednesday after going 8-for-61 in the previous two games.

“It wouldn’t have been a terribly great feeling, especially with an off day,” San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said of a potential defeat in the finale of the homestand. “You’d have to sit on it for a while. So it went from what could have been a rough period to one that we feel really good about.”

Robbie Ray (2-0, 3.18 ERA) opens the series for the Giants and is coming off a pair of strong starts. The left-hander allowed one run on four hits in six innings in a 4-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Saturday.

Ray is 1-3 with a 4.18 ERA in six career starts against the Yankees. He last faced them in Seattle for the Mariners on Aug. 10, 2022, when he allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings of a no-decision.

Marcus Stroman (0-0, 7.27) is on the mound for New York after watching his teammates score 22 runs in his two starts. Stroman last pitched Saturday when he allowed four runs on three hits in four innings of a 10-4 win at Pittsburgh.

The right-hander is 3-2 with a 2.92 ERA in six career starts against the Giants.

–Field Level Media