NEW YORK — If you happened to be outside enjoying the 78-degree weather on Saturday afternoon in the South Bronx, then your ears are surely still ringing from the sound of a crowd of 46,683 going bonkers over the Yankees’ historic nine-homer day.
There was no time for fans to catch their breath from the moment former Yankees left-hander Nestor Cortes threw his first pitch in New York’s wild and wacky 20-9 win over the Brewers. The Yankees tied their franchise record for most home runs in a game in the fourth inning; they broke that record in the seventh. The Bronx Bombers became just the third team in Major League Baseball history to hit nine or more home runs in a game. The 1987 Toronto Blue Jays still hold the record for most homers in a game with 10.
“We’re on a mission,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “A lot of guys are disappointed in what happened last year — myself included. It starts with preparing ourselves now.”
Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm, Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, and Oswald Peraza all homered against the Brewers on Saturday, but it was Judge’s three-homer game, including his grand slam in the third inning, that will stay on everyone’s minds. It was Judge’s third career three-homer game, becoming just the fourth Yankee in franchise history to record that feat. He joined Lou Gehrig (four), Alex Rodriguez (three), and Joe DiMaggio (three).
In typical Judge fashion, the reigning American League MVP downplayed his slugging heroics and turned the spotlight on his teammates.
“I’m not the guy. The team is the guy,” Judge said. “Any time we’re all wearing this Yankee logo, we don’t have our names on the back. It’s about the team. I think that’s what makes us so good. No one guy has to do the job. We all rely on each other.”
Similarly, the Yankees relied on their familiarity with Cortes to execute their game plan against him: swing early and often. Goldschmidt, Bellinger, and Judge hit back-to-back-to-back home runs off Cortes in the first inning. But it wasn’t just the result of their plate appearances that got Yankee Stadium in a frenzy, it was the way they did it. Goldschmidt, Bellinger, and Judge all homered on the first pitch of their respective at-bats.
To put it simply: Three pitches. Three home runs.
“That was fast,” Bellinger said. “It was just like, bang, bang, bang.”
“That was a punch-you in the mouth right there,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said.
EVERY Yankees Home Run in 20-9 win against Brewers
Judge watched the bleacher creatures jumping up and down after Bellinger’s home run and said he had to take a second to step out of the box and breathe before he faced Cortes in the first inning. It was the first time in MLB history a team hit home runs on the first three pitches it saw. And this wasn’t just anyone on the mound, it was a pitcher who spent 11 years in the Yankees organization before they traded him to the Brewers this past offseason. It was a pitcher whom the Yankees referred to as “beloved” just a few hours before they took the field.
The Yankees spent the days leading up to their game against Cortes lifting him up, then they spent the afternoon crushing him. Cortes left Yankee Stadium without speaking to reporters on Saturday, a Brewers official said.
The Yankees took him yard five times before he exited in the third inning to complete Cortes’ nightmare homecoming. There is no mercy for old friends. Bellinger was still celebrating his first home run as a Yankee when he whipped his head around in the dugout to watch Judge’s barrel connect to Cortes’ cutter over the plate. And if you blinked, you missed it. Judge’s first home run of the season left his bat at 115 mph before it landed in the second deck of left field.
He missed his fourth home run of the day by just a few inches in the sixth inning, settling for a 334-foot double off the right-field wall instead. His teammates thought that the ball was going out, because that’s just what everyone has come to believe with Judge, to expect the impossible.
“I feel like today was a perfect example of the type of guy he is,” said Max Fried, who gave up six runs (two earned) across 4.2 innings in his Yankees debut. “You see the work he puts in every day and the type of teammate that he is. And then for him to go out there and have that type of performance, three homers, almost a fourth, and you know that every single time he steps into the box he’s a threat to do that. He’s an extreme pro, and I’m just really glad I get to be his teammate now.”
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Fried labored through the first outing of his eight-year, $218 million Yankees contract. The left-hander said he was out of rhythm as he hit a pair of batters and committed a throwing error that led to a run. The defense behind him didn’t help as the Yankees combined for five errors in the field, inducing post-traumatic stress for a Yankees fan base that watched them fumble the ball in Game 5 of the World Series against the Dodgers last year. Still, the offense did more than enough to support Fried; he walked off the mound with a 16-6 lead in the fifth inning.
Saturday’s home-run bingo party was the second time in 10 years the Yankees scored 20 runs in a game. Judge said watching the four home runs the Yankees hit in the first inning was the most fun he had to begin a game. The new-look Yankees lineup, brimming with youth and veterans alike, showed that their depth is a strength, and it can be demoralizing for opposing pitchers to face them.
While everyone else was concerned about how the Yankees would replace Juan Soto’s bat in the lineup, the Bombers maintained all along that they would be just fine without him.
It’s still very early after New York’s 2-0 start to the season. But they just might be right.
Deesha Thosar is a MLB reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets for four years as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
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