Yankees hang on to win 4-2 against the Brewers on Opening Day

New York—Baseball is back in the Bronx for game 1 of 162 on the season. Carlos Rodon took the mound for the Yankees, and Freddy Peralta got the ball for the Brewers, as the Yankees took down the Brewers 4-2 on Opening Day.

Carlos Rodon set young phenom right fielder Jackson Churio down on strikes on three pitches as he sets the Brewers down in order on nine pitches to get the 2025 campaign started for the Yankees. 

Catcher Austin Wells got the scoring started early for the Yankees as he deposited a 2-0 fastball from Freddy Peralta into the short porch in right field for a leadoff homerun to quickly make it 1-0 Yankees in the bottom of the 1st. Wells's home run was the first leadoff bomb by a catcher on Opening Day in MLB history.

The captain, Aaron Judge, on Wells's home run.

“Incredible... for him to go out there and give us an early lead with that swing. We've seen it all spring. The guy came into camp ready to go."

Carlos Rodon worked around a one-out single by Brewers right fielder Sal Frelick, thanks to two groundouts on 11 pitches in the top of the 2nd inning.

The kid shortstop Anthony Volpe made it 2-0 Yankees with a two-out home run the other way into the short porch to right field in the bottom of the 2nd inning. 

Third basemen Vinny Capra got the scoring started for the Brewers with a leadoff home run to start the top of the 3rd inning and make it 2-1 Yankees. The next batter, second basemen Bryce Turang, hit a single to the left, But Rodon worked out of trouble, picking up two more strikeouts.

Yankees went down in order in the bottom half of the 3rd as Wells and Judge both went down on strikes.

Rodon worked around a scary infield single by Sal Frelick. Rodon went down hard trying to cover first base. Yankees training staff checked on him, but he stayed in the game.

Yankees' new center fielder Cody Bellinger picked up his first hit as a Yankee with a rocket single to right field, hit 105 mph off the bat, but nothing else for the Bombers in the 4th inning.

Carlos Rodon struck out the Brewers in order in the top of the 5th inning, bringing Rodon's total to seven punchouts through five innings.

"I thought his stuff was good.” Manager Aaron Boone said on Rodon. “I thought he was really in command of his emotions out there and just executed a lot."

Ben Rice hit a one-out rocket double 104 mph off the bat into the right field corner for his first hit of the season, then Wells walked with two outs to put two men on for Judge, but he went down on strikes to strand two runners. 

Rodon walked former NL MVP Christian Yelich and first baseman Rhys Hoskins to put two men on with one out. As that would be all for Rodon today, Tim Hill came in to replace Rodon. Hill worked out of trouble in the top of the 6th, picking up two groundouts. 

Carlos Rodons final line: 5.1 innings pitched, four hits allowed, one earned run, two walks, and seven strikeouts on 89 pitches.

Rodon had his best stuff and did a great job mixing his pitches today, throwing his slider 31% of the time, fastball 26%, changeup 20%, sinker 11%, and his curveball 10% of the time.

Rodon credited catcher Austin Wells with mixing up all his pitches today.

"I thought Wells was great with the pitch calling today. Rodon said, “For me, it's just we get a plan together; he calls the pitch, and I just roll."

Cody Bellinger and second basemen Jazz Chisolm worked walks but were stranded following a popout by rookie left fielder Jason Dominguez and an Anthony Volpe groundout to end the 6th inning.

Mark Lieter Jr. set down the Brewers in order in the top of the 7th, picking up two strikeouts and handing Jackson Churio, who finished third in NL ROY voting last season, his fourth strikeout of the ballgame. 

Ben Rice led the bottom of the 7th off with a walk, followed by a single from third basemen Oswaldo Cabrera; then, a couple of batters later, Aaron Judge hit an RBI double off the third base bag, picking up his first hit and RBI of the season to make it a 3-1 Yankees lead. The next batter, Cody Bellinger, hit a sacrifice fly to pick up the first RBI of his Yankees career and make it a 4-1 ballgame. 

Luke Weaver came in to pitch the top of the 8th, picking up two strikeouts and working around a two-out walk.

Outfielder Trent Grisham, who took over for Dominguez on defense in the top half of the 8th, picked up a one-out single in the bottom half of the 8th, then got caught stealing to end the 8th inning.

Devin Williams, the Yankee's new closer, came in to pitch the 9th and make his Yankees debut against his former team.

The Brewers started the top of the 9th with a single to right from shortstop Joey Ortiez, followed by a double from outfielder Isacc Collins, then a Jake Bauers pinch-hit walk loaded the bases with no outs. Bryce Turang picked up a sac fly to cut the lead to 4-2. Then Williams settled in, handing Churio his fifth strikeout of the game, followed by a Christian Yelich strikeout to strand the tieing run at second base and close this game out 4-2.

Devin Williams received the game belt today from the Yankees; here is what he said about it. 

“That was cool.” Williams said, “That just goes along with the mantra that we have around here: staying even-keel and continuing to move on to the next pitch.”

Max Fried will make his Yankees debut on Saturday against former Yankee Nestor Cortes Jr., who will be making his Brewers debut. The first pitch will be at 1:05 p.m. ET on the YES Network.