Cody

Bellinger

Bellinger’s first homer was a Yankee Stadium special that traveled just 363 feet, per Statcast, and would’ve been an out in every other stadium. His second against lefty reliever Keegan Akin in the fifth inning was a bit more definitive and gave New York a commanding 6-1 lead at the time. It was his second multi-homer performance of the season. He also plated an additional runs with a pair of additional hits, and added his fourth stolen base of the season, just for good measure.

Bellinger was called upon to pinch hit with the bases loaded and one out in the seventh inning, with the Yankees trailing 2-1. He smacked a 2-1 fastball from Greg Weissert into left field for a go-ahead two-run single, giving the Bombers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. On the season, the 30-year-old slugger is now hitting .271/.373/.435 with three homers, 13 RBI and three stolen bases through his first 102 plate appearances.

Bellinger will take a seat with left-hander Payton Tolle toeing the slab for the Red Sox. Trent Grisham will start in center field and bat leadoff for the Bombers while Randal Grichuk draws a start in left and will bat fifth.

Bellinger took Royals lefty starter Noah Cameron deep for a two-run shot in the third inning before taking reliever Mitch Spence deep in garbage time a couple frames later to cap off his first multi-homer performance of the year. The 30-year-old reached base safely in four of his five plate appearances during the one-sided slugfest. It was his first time leaving the yard since April 4. He’s hitting .274/.368/.452 with three homers, 11 RBI and three steals in 20 games this season.

Reid Detmers doesn’t have extreme splits,, but the Yankees are giving several left-handed hitters the night off against Detmers on Tuesday. Chisholm, Cody Bellinger and Ben Rice will all sit and Paul Goldschmidt, Randal Grichuk and Amed Rosario will get a chance to play.

Bellinger launched a 394-foot home run at 105.5 mph off the bat against Max Meyer for his first home run of the season. The RBIs are also his first RBIs of the season, so it’s been a slow start to the season for the 30-year-old, but today was a good step in the right direction.

Bellinger knocked a base hit in the first inning and scored the first run of the game on a double by Ben Rice. After drawing a walk in the third, he singled, stole second, and scored again in the sixth. It was the first stolen base of the season for the 30-year-old outfielder. He’s 6-for-18 at the dish so far with a 3/3 K/BB ratio.

Rice steps into the heart of New York’s loaded lineup behind Aaron Judge and Cody Bellinger following last year’s 26-homer breakthrough campaign. The 27-year-old slugger’s realistic 30-homer ceiling makes him an upper-echelon fantasy catcher heading into the regular season. Here’s the full lineup set to face Giants ace Logan Webb at Oracle Park in primetime: Trent Grisham (CF), Judge (RF), Bellinger (LF), Rice (1B), Giancarlo Stanton (DH), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (2B), José Caballero (SS), Ryan McMahon (3B) and Austin Wells (C).

The 30-year-old slugger is working his way through a “very mild” back issue. The Yankees are simply taking every possible precaution here as they don’t want the injury to linger into the regular season. As of now, there’s no reason to think that Bellinger won’t be ready for Opening Day.

Boone said that Bellinger’s back “went out on him a little bit” and the Yankees aren’t going to take any risks with the 30-year-old outfielder. It sounds like Bellinger could be back in the lineup as early as Tuesday, and fantasy managers have reason to believe he’ll be ready to roll when the season starts.