Giancarlo Stanton blasts 2 home runs in Yankees' opener

“Good times will be magnified, and so will the bad,” Stanton said recently. “The fans expect a lot — be prepared. I expect a lot, too, so we’re in the same boat.”

Stanton did not have to wait long for his first memorable New York Yankee experience, making his debut Thursday an indelible one with a pair of tape-measure home runs — including one on his first swing — to lead the Yankees to a 6-1 season-opening victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

It was the Yankees’ first opening-day victory since 2011, and the game could not have gone more swimmingly for Aaron Boone, their rookie manager. Starter Luis Severino breezed through 5 2/3 innings with just one hit allowed; the lockdown bullpen did its part; and the Yankees offered the rest of baseball a discomfiting look at the power-packed head of their batting order.

Beyond Stanton, who also doubled and finished with four RBI, Aaron Judge doubled, singled and walked. Gary Sanchez drove in a run with a ringing double, and leadoff hitter Brett Gardner dropped a solo homer over the right-field wall.

But when the curtain lifted on the season, it was Stanton who seized center stage.

“I’ve never seen a debut like that,” said Dellin Betances, who had seen two other Yankees — Judge and Tyler Austin — hit back-to-back homers in their major league debuts two years ago. “First game with the Yankees, for him to do what he did today was unbelievable.”

Standing inside the clubhouse entrance after the win, general manager Brian Cashman, who engineered the deal to bring Stanton from Miami, said he had asked Boone before the game who was his pick to click for the night.

His answer: Stanton.

Asked why, Boone smiled: “Because I just wanted it to be.”

One thing that the Yankees have learned about Stanton is that he is a creature of habit. He lost himself daily in his routine during spring training, heading to the batting cages and repeating the same drills: from a tee, then tosses, followed by machines and live batting practice. Stanton’s approach in all his work is to hit the ball to right field.

“You can allow the ball to get deeper in the zone, so when you get on time, they’re usually taking pitches out of the zone because they can wait a little bit longer,” Boone said. “And then if they happen to clip one, usually it’s damage.”

J.A. Happ, Toronto’s left-handed starter, had beaten the Yankees five times without a loss over the last two seasons, but his outing did not start well on Thursday. After left fielder Curtis Granderson dropped Gardner’s routine liner for an error, Happ recovered to strike out Judge.

That brought Stanton to the plate. He took the first pitch, a fastball on the outside edge of the plate, for a strike. Happ came back with the same pitch, but left the two-seamer over the plate. Stanton, delivering the compact swing of a pesky singles hitter with a tight end’s body, answered by driving the ball deep into the right-center field seats.

As he jogged around the bases, Stanton flashed the gold bottoms of his spikes and feigned taking a handoff from the third base coach Phil Nevin as he reached out to the slugger rounding third.

“That was cool, man,” Stanton said. “I tried to be as calm as possible coming up, and the anticipation was big for me. I was able to settle it down and understand that it’s just a game even though it’s a big-time opening day.”

When Stanton came to the plate to begin the ninth inning, it was only in search of gravy. The Yankees by then had firm control. Stanton had pushed the lead to 3-0 in the fifth when he doubled off reliever John Axford to drive home Judge, who had walked. Sanchez followed by doubling to center field, comfortably scoring Stanton.

After Gardner’s home run off Danny Barnes in the seventh, the Blue Jays put their only blemish on the Yankees bullpen when Kevin Pillar hit Dellin Betances’ first pitch over the center-field wall. “I didn’t think he was swinging,” Betances said sheepishly.

Blue Jays reliever Tyler Clippard, with the count full, tried to fool Stanton with a change-up. Stanton, almost dropping to one knee, hit the pitch into the second deck in center field. As the coaching assistant Brett Weber mimicked the swing later, Stanton said it was “almost Beltre,” referring to Adrian Beltre’s habit of falling to the ground to hit off-speed pitches.

Asked which home run was more impressive, Weber said: “Let’s face it — they’re all sexy.”

Stanton may not have felt so adored when he returned to the dugout after his home run in the ninth. The Yankees sat stoically in their spots in the dugout — so Stanton high-fived the empty space in front of him.

“I was about to get up and give him a high five and everybody was like, no, no, no, no, no,” said third baseman Brandon Drury, who was also making his debut.

The ringleader was believed to be Gardner.

Stanton laughed along with the gag.

“I wasn’t ready for that one,” he said. “I’ve got to have a better act.”

If the way the opener unfolded is any indication, he may need it soon.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.