LOS ANGELES — Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani did not take long to give the sport what it craved.
The sluggers traded towering home runs in the first inning of the Yankees’ 8-5 loss to the Dodgers on Friday night at Dodger Stadium, marking the first time in MLB history that both reigning MVPs homered in the first inning of the same game, according to Stats Perform.
Judge went first, demolishing Tony Gonsolin’s 90 mph fastball and sending it 446 feet into the batter’s eye in center field for the 1-0 lead and his 19th home run of the year.
Ohtani returned the favor in the bottom of the first, crushing Max Fried’s first pitch 417 feet to center for his 21st home run of the season that tied it back up.
Ohtani than did Judge one better by blasting homer No. 22, a solo shot, in the sixth inning.
“I feel like [Ohtani] was copying me — I started it,” Judge said with a grin after the Yankees’ defeat. “No, he’s impressive. He’s one of the best players in the game for a reason. What he can do in the box, on the basepaths, once he gets back on the mound, it’s special.
“But it’s really just about two good ballclubs going after it and we weren’t able to come away with the win. But we’ll be ready to go [Saturday].”
It was a star-studded beginning to the World Series rematch.
“I like playing against the best,” Judge said in the leadup to the series. ‘You want to play against the best teams, the best players. Ohtani’s definitely one of the best players in the game, he has been for a long time. And he’s off to another fantastic start this season.”
Judge’s home run was the first of four the Yankees hit in the first three innings.
Austin Wells led off the second with a solo shot before Trent Grisham added a two-run blast — the first homer for each of them since May 12.
Paul Goldschmidt then led off the third inning with an opposite-field roundtripper to give the Yankees a 5-2 lead, but it unraveled from there for Max Fried who gave up four runs in the sixth inning en route to the Yankees’ defeat.