Written by Mark Townsend at YahooSports.com
The new era of New York Yankees baseball got off to a memorable start in Saturday’s 8-4 win against the Rays.
Rookies Tyler Austin and Aaron Judge, both of whom were summoned to Yankee Stadium to make their major-league debuts in the wake of Alex Rodriguez’s release, made history by each homering in their respective first MLB plate appearances.
In the history of baseball, no teammates had ever accomplished that feat in the same game. And to make matters even wilder, they did so in back-to-back plate appearances in the second inning.
Austin, a 24-year-old first baseman/outfielder, got the start at first base for Mark Teixeira. He was hitting sixth in New York’s lineup. Judge, also 24, got the start in left field and hit seventh. They went deep against Rays’ starter Matt Andriese, though there’s no debate which home run traveled farther.
Before Saturday, only three Yankees had ever homered in their first career at-bat. It’s not exactly a who’s who list, but the Yankees hope that will change with Austin and Judge.
We knew Saturday would make a new beginning for Yankees baseball. Even as the organization celebrated its 1996 World Series championship team, there was a different buzz with the young guys in the lineup. So far, anyway, that new era looks to have exciting potential. Now we wait to see how they blend in and, more importantly, how they adjust to life in the big leagues.
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