After boos, Stanton's HR is hardest-hit ball of '18

NEW YORK -- One day after hearing boos while enduring the first five-strikeout game of his career, Giancarlo Stanton gave the Yankee Stadium crowd something to cheer about.
Stanton demolished an 88.2-mph slider from Rays starter Blake Snell in the first inning of Wednesday's 7-2 victory, sending a line-drive shot into the second deck in left field.
"It's a good feeling. You get a pitch out over the plate and put the barrel to it," Stanton said.
The impressive two-run homer -- Stanton's third long ball as a member of the Yankees -- dropped jaws in the home team dugout while marking his first in home pinstripes.

"That was loud," Aaron Judge said. "It was impressive, him going up there and waiting on those changeups or sliders that Snell threw and just getting a barrel on it. That was pretty impressive, especially after the game before. He was here early, working out. That's just what he does."
Rocketing off Stanton's bat at 117.9 mph, the hardest-hit ball in the Majors so far this season traveled a projected 458 feet, according to Statcast™.
Since such data started to be tracked in 2015, Stanton is the second player to hit a homer with an exit velocity of more than 116 mph at Yankee Stadium. Judge, who homered on Wednesday along with Gary Sánchez, has done it six times and now has 57 career homers, matching Rudy York for most in baseball history through 188 career games.

"Hopefully, we'll put some back-to-back-to-backs in there," Stanton said. "It's good that we all got one today to help the team."
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Wednesday's blast marked Stanton's second home run at the current Yankee Stadium; he hit one as a member of the Marlins on June 18, 2015, off left-hander CC Sabathia. Stanton has 270 homers in 992 games, and only three players have hit as many homers in 1,000 games or fewer: Ryan Howard (279), Ralph Kiner (277) and Harmon Killebrew (272).
"He's a professional hitter. We've seen it for years in Miami," catcher Austin Romine said. "He works harder than a lot of people I've seen down in the cage. It was a big shot. I'm looking around the dugout, and people are giving that [astonished] face. It was a good shot."

Stanton had an all-or-nothing series against Rays pitching. Following the homer, Stanton struck out in the third, fourth and seventh innings.
Through six games with his new club, the reigning National League MVP is batting .217 (5-for-23) with two doubles, three homers, six RBIs, four walks and 12 strikeouts.
"You're going to have good days, bad days," Stanton said. "It's good to help the team today and get after it tomorrow."