Carnage as New York Yankees blast three straight home runs off ex-pitcher Nestor Cortes’s first three pitches
New York Yankees trio Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge hit three stunning home runs off the first three balls of the day from Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Nestor Cortes.
‘Nasty Nestor’ was traded by the Yankees to the Brewers in the offseason and on his debut for his new team at the place he used to call home, he couldn’t have imagined a worse start.
It was the first time in the storied history of the Yankees that they smashed four homers in the first inning of a game.
The 38-year-old Goldschmidt, who was surprisingly leading off for the first time in his 15-year career, stepped up tot he plate and blasted Cortes all the way into the Brewers’ ballpen on what felt like a summer day at Yankee Stadium.
Left-hander Bellinger followed by sending Cortes into the bleachers before Aaron Judge went back-to-back-to-back for the Yankees with a 468-foot moonshot, his first home run of the season.
Cortes recovered to get Jazz Chisholm and Anthony Volpe out but sadly for him, the carnage wasn’t over.
Aaron Judge celebrates his first home run of the season as the Yankees played the Brewers
Catcher Austin Wells then added insult to injury, continuing his white-hot start to the season by hitting his second home run off his old teammate for the fourth homer of the first inning.
There was even a mound visit from the Brewers’ trainers to check Cortes wasn’t hurt but they quickly returned to the dugout.
For the Yankees, the game was also the debut for their new left-handed pitcher Max Fried – and he began having some struggles of his own in the second inning.
Fielding errors allowed the Brewers to reclaim three of the runs lost in the first Cortes inning to set up a tantalizing game on Saturday afternoon.
The Yankees got Fried on an eight-year, $218m contract in the winter after going into free agency from the Atlanta Braves.
MORE TO FOLLOW
