Yankees 20, Brewers 9: Milwaukee pitchers allow nine home runs, including five by Nestor Cortes
Todd RosiakNEW YORK – It was a beatdown of epic proportions on an unseasonably warm Saturday afternoon in The Bronx.
Nestor Cortes allowed home runs on his first three pitches of the game in his first game for the Milwaukee Brewers and five in just two innings, setting the tone in ominous fashion.
His relief didn’t fare much better, and by the time all was said and done the New York Yankees had pummeled their National League opponent into submission, 20-9, at Yankee Stadium.
More: Box score
Rookies Connor Thomas (three) and Chad Patrick (one) combined to allow four more homers, setting a dubious new franchise record for Milwaukee as the team dropped to 0-2 on the season.
Aaron Judge was unstoppable as he slugged three of those homers for the Yankees, who set a franchise record of their own and became just the third team in major-league history to go deep at least nine times in a game.
That Milwaukee lost a game in which it scored nine runs, banged out 13 hits and saw New York commit five errors had to be disheartening as well for the team.
A dubious new franchise record
Chad Patrick became the second rookie to make his major-league debut in the game, and two batters in he registered his first career strikeout.
The third batter – what else? – homered as Oswald Peraza lined a two-run shot into the seats in left to make it a 20-6 game.
It's a franchise record for the Yankees, who become just the third team in MLB history to hit at least nine in a game, and also for the Brewers, who'd previously allowed eight homers five different times.
It's the most runs allowed by Milwaukee since losing, 21-5, at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 2, 2018.
Jake Bauers pitched the eighth and recorded double moral victories, both by retiring Judge on a lineout to left and registering a scoreless inning.
Brice Turang capped the scoring with a two-run homer to right-center in the ninth.
Three pitchers and counting
The biggest concern now for the Brewers is preserving their pitching depth considering they currently have no starters listed for the home opener Monday and then Tuesday as well against the Kansas City Royals.
Elvis Peguero threw the game's first 1-2-3 frame in the fifth then allowed a couple runs in the sixth, with Judge driving in his eighth run of the game with a double off the wall in right that made it 18-6.
It's getting ridiculous
Connor Thomas issued a one-out walk and double in succession in the bottom of the fourth.
After a Cody Bellinger sacrifice fly made it 14-4, Judge followed with his third homer of the game, a two-run shot to center that left the Brewers trailing by 12.
Thomas eventually finished the inning, but left having allowed the same number of earned runs – eight – that Cortes did.
It's just the 41st time in major-league history two pitchers from the same team have done so, and actually the first time since last May 4.
Two more New York errors in the fifth (five and counting now) have pushed two runs across for Milwaukee and made it 16-6 as Max Fried exits on a Christian Yelich RBI single.
From bad to worse in a hurry
The rookie Thomas was thrown into the fire one batter into the third, and did not fare well.
Making his major-league debut, the Rule 5 pick from the St. Louis Cardinals allowed a single to Trent Grisham, hit Paul Goldschmidt and then had a single lined off his leg by Cody Bellinger.
That set the stage for Aaron Judge, who promptly blasted his ninth career grand slam out to left.
Not to be outdone, Jazz Chisholm followed with a homer of his own to make it 13-3. It's the seventh time in Yankees history they've hit seven homers or more in a game, and the first time since Sept. 16, 2020 against Toronto.
Anthony Volpe, up next, struck out. That gave the Yankees the same number of outs as homers to that point.
Thomas then retired the next two batters as New York ultimately batted around for the second time in three innings.
Jackson Chourio doubled for his second hit and scored in the fourth to make it 13-4.
More trouble for Nestor Cortes in the second
Cortes was on the verge of escaping the second inning unscathed after walking Goldschmidt to start, but couldn't do it.
With two outs, Chisholm singled to left-center and scampered to second when Chourio made an ill-advised throw to third trying to catch Judge, who'd reached on a fielder's choice.
But it ultimately didn't matter, as Volpe followed with a three-run homer to left, turning a one-run deficit back into four runs at 7-3.
After the Brewers offense threatened but didn't score in the top of the third. Cortes walked leadoff man Jasson Domínguez in the bottom of the third and was lifted in favor of Thomas.
Cortes ended up allowing five homers and walking five – clearly not the debut he or the Brewers had in mind.
He had never allowed more than three homers in 86 previous career starts.
A nightmare open for Nestor Cortes
Pitching for the first time for the Brewers, the ex-Yankee Cortes electrified Yankee Stadium on this rare 80-degree late March day – which was obviously bad news for Milwaukee.
The left-hander allowed back-to-back-to-back homers to Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Judge, and on consecutive pitches, at that.
The first time in Yankees franchise history – think about that for a minute – that's ever happened and also the first time since MLB began tracking pitch counts in 1988.
Cortes rallied to retire the next two batters only to surrender a fourth homer, this one to Austin Wells, giving the Yankees a 4-0 lead six batters into the game.
Colin Rea was the last Brewers pitcher to allow four homers in a game; that happened last Aug. 13 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Michael Blazek was the last Milwaukee pitcher to allow four or more homers in an inning. Four of those actually came in succession, on July 27, 2017 at the Washington Nationals when Bryce Harper, Brian Goodwin, Wilmer Difo and Ryan Zimmerman all took Blazek deep.
Anthony Rendon then homered two batters after Zimmerman, making it an incredible five in the inning.
Blazek allowed six homers in his 2 ⅓-inning start that day. It was his final appearance of that season for the Brewers.
Cortes needed 30 pitches to finish the first, as he struck Trent Grisham out looking to get back to the bench.
Milwaukee's offense did pick Cortes up in the second, with an RBI single by Vinny Capra and two-out throwing errors by Volpe and Fried leaving it a 4-3 game.
What time is the Brewers game on today?
Time: 12:05 p.m.
First pitch at Yankee Stadium is set for 12:05 p.m.
What channel is the Brewers game on today? TV, stream
TV channel: FanDuel Sports Network
Stream: Streaming is available on the FanDuel Sports Wisconsin app. Also, Fubo has a free trial for new subscribers.
Brewers starting lineup vs Yankees
- Jackson Chourio, left field
- Christian Yelich, designated hitter
- William Contreras, catcher
- Rhys Hoskins, first base
- Sal Frelick, right field
- Joey Ortiz, shortstop
- Garrett Mitchell, center field
- Vinny Capra, third base
- Brice Turang, second base
Starting pitcher: Nestor Cortes
Yankees starting lineup vs Brewers
- Paul Goldschmidt, first base
- Cody Bellinger, left field
- Aaron Judge, right field
- Jazz Chisholm Jr, second base
- Anthony Volpe, shortstop
- Austin Wells, catcher
- Pablo Reyes, third base
- Jason Dominguez, designated hitter
- Trent Grisham, center field
Starting pitcher: Max Fried
Milwaukee Brewers schedule
After Saturday's game, the Brewers conclude their first series of the season on Sunday before heading home for their home opener. It's the start of a seven-game homestand.
- at Yankees, 12:35 p.m. Sunday
- vs. Royals, 1:10 p.m. Monday at American Family Field
- vs. Royals, 6:40 p.m. Tuesday at American Family Field
- vs. Royals, 12:35 p.m. Wednesday at American Family Field
