First inning sets tone in Yanks' rout of Angels

NEW YORK -- The Yankees and Angels met three times in the postseason during the first decade of the century, developing a heated rivalry that resulted in some intense October matchups.

Los Angeles’ solid start has some dreaming about Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani getting a chance to strut their stuff under the bright lights in the Bronx this fall, but the Angels might be careful what they wish for after the Yankees gave them a rude welcome to New York on Tuesday night.

The first inning set the tone for the series opener, from a superb defensive play by Aaron Judge to the start of a dominant outing by Jordan Montgomery. Add in some immediate run support against Noah Syndergaard, and you had the makings of a near-perfect night at Yankee Stadium.

Here are three keys from the opening inning that helped the Yankees to a 9-1 victory:

Judge issues his verdict: No home run
Judge is considered by most to be the early frontrunner to wrest the American League Most Valuable Player Award away from Ohtani, as the Yankees' slugger is off to a stellar start at the plate with a 1.028 OPS and an MLB-high 18 home runs in his first 47 games.

But Judge’s value to the Yankees involves more than his thunderous bat, and he put those skills on display in the first inning on Tuesday.

Ohtani smashed Montgomery’s 1-2 fastball to center field, a 107.6 mph rocket that sent Judge racing back toward the wall. The 6-foot-7 outfielder tracked the ball and leaped for it at the wall, snagging it and pulling it back into the field of play for the inning’s second out.

“Ohtani hit it to the moon, and I was able to get underneath it,” Judge said. “I was just trying to make the play; it doesn't matter who it is.”

Judge might not have been impressed by his highlight, but several other Yankees were amazed at the focus and athleticism he displayed.

“I was a little surprised because I thought it was a homer off the bat, but I liked how Aaron moved to it and got himself in a real easy position,” manager Aaron Boone said. “There was no rush, there was no panic; there was just, ‘Get myself there under control.’ Because he hit it so high, he had time to kind of slow things down a little bit and get himself in a good position to make that play.”

“[Ohtani] hit a couple against us when I was with Texas, so you know that sound off the bat,” catcher Jose Trevino said. “I thought it was out, but thankfully we have someone that's 6-foot-7 out there.”

The crowd of 31,242 responded with gleeful chants of “MVP! MVP!” for Judge, who finished the night 0-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.

“He's an athlete,” Montgomery said. “He’s going to play really hard; I trust him anywhere. You can put him behind the plate.”

Monty goes Trout fishing
After Montgomery watched Judge save a potential homer with his memorable catch against Ohtani, up stepped Trout to try to get the Angels’ offense going. The left-hander had never faced the three-time AL MVP, but that didn’t mean he was going to back down from the challenge of pitching to Trout.

Trout took a first-pitch curveball for a strike, then fouled off a cutter. Montgomery came back with another cutter, which Trout took for ball one, then the southpaw returned to the curveball, getting Trout to chase for strike three.

It was the start of an 0-for-4 night for Trout, though Montgomery got a huge assist from shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who made a fantastic play on a 108.8 mph ground ball in the sixth -- the hardest-hit ball in the game -- to prevent a run from scoring and end the inning.

“Everybody from every position was awesome,” said Montgomery, who watched Trevino and Joey Gallo also make great plays in the field.

For Montgomery, the strangest part of the night must have been the scoreboard, as the Yankees scored more than three runs for him for just the second time in 10 starts this season. Montgomery finished the night allowing one run on four hits and one walk over seven innings, striking out four. The walk started the second inning, moments after the Yankees had staked him to a nice lead.

“I kind of got on him, though; I said, ‘We get you four runs in the first inning and you go out and walk the leadoff guy,’” cracked Boone. “He said, ‘I didn't know what to do.’”

Yankees hammer Thor
Despite pitching across town for the Mets from 2015-21, Syndergaard had made only one start in his career at Yankee Stadium, limiting the Yankees to one run over five innings on July 20, 2018. The 29-year-old right-hander was looking to build on his best start of the season, an eight-inning, one-run effort against the Rangers on May 24, but it was evident early that Syndergaard would not be replicating that performance.

After Judge worked a one-out walk, Anthony Rizzo drilled a ball to right-center that glanced off the side of Trout’s glove as he attempted a diving catch. Judge scored on the double, then Rizzo came around to make it 2-0 on Gleyber Torres’ double to left-center. Torres appeared to have a triple, but a replay review showed he was tagged out at third after he came off the bag.

The two-run lead wasn’t enough for the Yankees, though. Miguel Andújar followed with a single and stole second base, then Matt Carpenter launched a two-run homer to right field in his first at-bat as a Yankee in the Bronx, getting his first taste of the short porch in right field.

“I don't know what the exit velo was, but I knew I didn't hit it great,” Carpenter said. “I just put a good swing on it, not a great swing, and it flew out. I can get used to that.”

In all, six different Yankees drove in at least one run while seven different players scored at least once. Having scored just five runs over their three previous games, they matched that by the end of the second inning on Tuesday.

“To throw a four spot in the first inning off a guy that's been throwing well, we're coming off a series where we didn't score a lot of runs,” Boone said. “To have a number of guys up and down the order really contribute, you always like that when a lot of guys have a hand in the offense. That was certainly the case tonight.”