Warren and the bullpen strong as Yanks finish season-opening sweep

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 28: Will Warren #29 of the New York Yankees pitches in the first inning against the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park on March 28, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brandon Vallance/Getty Images) | Getty Images There are a lot of unreliable things about this era of Yankees baseball, but there’s always one thing that they seem to do every year. While some teams are sluggish out of the gates, the Yankees always manage to go full speed to start the season.

For the third straight year, the Yankees have swept their opening series of the season and they’ve done it in three different ways. In 2024, they rode clutch plays on both sides of the ball to a sweep over the hated Astros. In 2025, they pummeled the eventual NL Central champion Brewers into submission with those newfangled torpedo bats.

This year? Their pitching absolutely flummoxed the Giants. While they came up short of the ever-elusive series shutout, the Yankees allowed just one run total in the three games in San Francisco, as Will Warren and the bullpen carried over good work from Wednesday and Friday en route to a 3-1 win against the San Francisco Giants.

Ben Rice got things started with an early two-run double, Aaron Judge went deep again, and the Yankees’ infield turned four clutch double plays to continually deny the Giants’ offense. Tyler Mahle started this game off by getting a pair of outs against Judge and Trent Grisham, but gave up a long triple to Cody Bellinger into Triple’s Alley to give Rice a chance for his first RBI of the year, but the Yankees’ first baseman chopped a ball to shortstop to end the inning. Warren took the bump and looked to answer with a zero of his own and got off to a good start, but things nearly unraveled on him.