NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto and Anthony Volpe each hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning off Jesús Luzardo, and the New York Yankees romped over the Miami Marlins 7-0 on Monday night.
New York improved to 9-2 and matched the best 11-game start in team history.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Juan Soto and Anthony Volpe each hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning off Jesús Luzardo, and the New York Yankees romped over the Miami Marlins 7-0 on Monday night.
New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, left, shakes hands with Josh Maciejewski, right, after they defeated the Miami Marlins, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees's Anthony Volpe, right, celebrates with Anthony Rizzo, left, after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe hits a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto celebrates with Aaron Judge after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto reacts after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto reacts after hitting a double against the Miami Marlins during the third inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto follows through on a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
Soto was cheered by fans extending into the top of the following inning following his first Yankee Stadium home run in pinstripes. He turned to applaud them.
“Amazing how the crowd reacted. It was really cool. They really surprised me with that one,” Soto said. “They're giving you a lot of love, so you got to give them some love back. Whenever I can, I just try to cheer for them, too.”
He is hitting .357 with two homers and 10 RBIs in his first season with the Yankees, who acquired the three-time All-Star from San Diego in December.
Soto was signing autographs before the game until just before Nestor Cortes threw his first pitch.
“I was thinking, hesitating, because the game was supposed to start at 6:08,” Soto said. “I have two minutes and turned around and Nestor is almost moving.”
A day after winning in St. Louis, the Marlins dropped to 1-10 for the first time since they lost 11 in a row after an opening victory in 1998 — when a selloff followed the team’s first World Series title.
“If you look at it as 1-10, you're just going to dig yourself into a deeper hole,” Luzardo said. “It's just more of going out there and trying to be your best every day.”
The game breezed by in 2 hours, 1 minute, the fastest nine-inning game since a 3-0 loss at Cleveland in an even 2 hours on June 12, 1992.
Cortes (1-1), pitching against his hometown team for the first time, allowed two hits, struck out six and walked none over eight innings. Cortes had his longest outing since May 2022 and the longest by a Yankees starter this year. After his 2023 season was cut short by a shoulder injury, Cortes won for the first time since May 30.
Josh Maciejewski, a 28-year-old left-hander, got three groundouts on four pitches in his major league debut as Miami was shut out for the first time this year.
Volpe put the Yankees ahead when he drove a flat slider over the fence in left-center, and Soto doubled the lead when he sent a first-pitch changeup high over the right-field wall.
Alex Verdugo added an RBI single in the fifth off Luzardo (0-3), who allowed seven runs, eight hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings. Luzardo has a 7.20 ERA this season and an 18.36 ERA in three career appearances against the Yankees.
“The walks just really killed me,” Luzardo said.
Bryan De La Cruz had both Miami hits.
First pitch was pushed back four hours last week to 6:05 p.m. to avoid the solar eclipse. At 3:30 p.m., several Yankees players stood on the field to watch an eerie light illuminate the diamond.
“The advice is we can’t be on the field for BP and that’s, from 2:10 to 4:40,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said earlier. “I don’t know if that’s advice or a mandate.”
“Eclipse” from Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” was played a few minutes before the national anthem.
WORTH NOTING
Boone said Major League Baseball told him Toronto’s Bowden Francis should have been charged with a quick pitch to Gleyber Torres in the first inning Sunday by umpire Ángel Hernández, who instead called strike three.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Marlins: OF Jazz Chisholm Jr. was out of the starting lineup a day after banging into the center-field fence in an unsuccessful attempt to deny Nolan Gorman a home run.
UP NEXT
LHP Carlos Rodón (0-0, 2.79 ERA) starts Tuesday night for the Yankees and A.J. Puk (0-2, 9.00 ERA) for the Marlins.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB
New York Yankees' Juan Soto, right, reacts in front third base coach Luis Rojas (67) after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, left, shakes hands with Josh Maciejewski, right, after they defeated the Miami Marlins, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees's Anthony Volpe, right, celebrates with Anthony Rizzo, left, after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Anthony Volpe hits a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto celebrates with Aaron Judge after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto reacts after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto reacts after hitting a double against the Miami Marlins during the third inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto rounds the bases after hitting a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
New York Yankees' Juan Soto follows through on a home run against the Miami Marlins during the fourth inning of a baseball game, Monday, April 8, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Former South African President Jacob Zuma Saturday lamented the high levels of poverty among black South Africans and promised to create jobs and tackle crime as he launched his new political party's manifesto ahead of the country's much anticipated elections.
He told thousands of supporters who gathered at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg that his party would build factories where many people would be employed and provide free education to the country's youth.
“We want our children to study for free, especially those from poor households because the poverty we have was not created by us. It was created by settlers who took everything, including our land. We’ll take all those things back, make money and educate our children,” he said.
He has also pledged to change the country's Constitution to restore more powers to traditional leaders, saying their role in society has been reduced by giving more powers to magistrates and judges.
Zuma's uMkhonto weSizwe party, known as the MK Party, has emerged as a significant player in South Africa's upcoming elections after it was launched in December last year.
He is currently involved in a legal battle with the country's electoral authority, the Independent Electoral Commission. He has appealed against a court judgment which barred him from standing in the election because of his criminal record.
Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defying a court order to appear before a judicial commission of inquiry which was probing corruption allegation in government and state-owned companies during his presidential term from 2009 to 2018.
In 2018, he was forced to resign as the country's president following wide-ranging corruption allegations, but he has made a political return and is now seeking to become the country's president again.
“When they talk about unemployment, they are talking about us, there is nobody else. When they talk about people who leave in shacks, that is us, there is nobody else who lives in shacks except us,” Zuma told his supporters, many of whom had travelled from other provinces like Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal, where he still enjoys significant support.
Poverty among black people is the reason behind South Africa's high levels of crime, according to the former president.
“Our hunger and poverty is what creates a perception that we are criminals, we don't have a brain, we have nothing. That time is over, because we are good people who are giving, but some people are pushing us towards criminality,” he said.
Zuma said his party was aiming to get more than 65% of the national vote in the upcoming elections as it would allow them to change many laws in the country's constitution.
Recent polls and analysts have suggested that the ruling African National Congress might get less than 50% of the vote and would need to form a coalition with smaller parties to remain in power.
South Africans will go to the polls on May 29.
Supporters of former South African President Jacob Zuma hold a pro-Putin sign at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A young Zulu warrior makes his way through the crowd , waiting for former South African President Jacob Zuma to arrive at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Former South African President Jacob Zuma greets supporters at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Supporters wait for former South African President Jacob Zuma to arrive at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Veteran fighters parade as they wait for former South African President Jacob Zuma to arrive at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Supporters wait for former South African President Jacob Zuma to arrive at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto, Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Former South African President Jacob Zuma arrives at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Supporters cheer former South African President Jacob Zuma as he arrives at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Supporters wait for former South African President Jacob Zuma to arrive at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Former South African President Jacob Zuma, centre, arrives at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in a bitter battle in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Former South African President Jacob Zuma arrives at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in a bitter battle in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Former South African President Jacob Zuma arrives at Orlando stadium in the township of Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa, for the launch of his newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party's manifesto Saturday, May 18, 2024. Zuma, who has turned his back on the African National Congress (ANC) he once led, will face South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who replaced him as leader of the ANC in a bitter battle in the general elections later in May. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
