George Lombard Jr. drills home run in debut with Yankees for first career hit in matchup vs. Cardinals

George Lombard Jr. wasted absolutely no time in his debut with the New York Yankees.

Lombard drilled a solo home run in the fifth inning of the Yankees’ matchup with the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night. Lombard was only called up to the team the day before. The home run, off of Cardinals pitcher Hunter Dobbins, was his first career hit.

That put the Yankees up 2-0 at the time. 

Lombard got the start at shortstop, and he turned a huge double play in the second inning to keep the Cardinals off the board, too.

Lombard, 21, is the son of current Detroit Tigers bench coach George Lombard. He’s been a potential star for the Yankees for years after they selected him with the No. 26 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. He’s worked his way up through the minors ever since, and finally got the call on Monday from their Triple-A affiliate in Pennsylvania. He’s held a .268 batting average in 56 games at Triple-A, and was widely considered the best player in the Yankees system before making the jump up.

“I think he’s had an outstanding year,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about Lombard last week. “I think he’s gotten better. I think he continues to show a ton of progress. We love the kid and the makeup. It’s been fun to see him.”

The Yankees entered Tuesday’s contest with a 63-50 record after a 13-7 loss to open the series with the Cardinals on Monday night. They are currently in second in the AL East, too.

Lombard is just the latest new Yankees player to make a splash in his debut. Luis Garcia Jr., who the team acquired ahead of the deadline, hit a go-ahead homer in his debut on Monday. But the Yankees are still dealing with injuries from several stars, including Cody Bellinger, Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge. It’s unclear when Judge will be able to return.

This post will be updated with more information shortly.