Yanks Hit HR’s on First 3 Pitches & 9 HR’s Overall. NY 20 Milwaukee 9

March 30, 2025 paperbacklou 2025 0

Fans who were late to their seats in the bottom of the 1st at Yankee Stadium on a beautiful, 80-degree Saturday afternoon missed:

It must have been crazy for those still on line getting into the stadium, or getting food, or going to the bathroom — hearing the increasingly thunderous applause of those in their seats watching.

Hopefully they got to their seats two batters and 13 pitches later when Austin Wells rocketed homerun #4 of the inning for a 4-0 Yankee lead.

But it didn’t stop there — Milwaukee scored 3 in the top of the 2nd against new Yankee ace Max Fried — but the Yanks came right back with:

  • A 3-run homer by Anthony Volpe in the bottom of the 2nd and then
  • A Grand Slam by Aaron Judge in the bottom of the 3rd — one of 3 homers he’d hit on the day (and he just missed a 4th with an RBI double off the wall his 4th time up).

In all NY hit 9 homeruns — tying the Reds for 2nd most in history behind 10 that the Toronto Blue Jays hit in 1987 — in pulverizing Milwaukee 20-9. Nestor Cortes pitched 2 innings and allowed 8 runs; he was relieved by Connor Thomas who pitched 2 innings and allowed 8 runs. It was that kind of afternoon.

“Guys going up there with conviction; they had a plan and we executed,” said Aaron Judge afterwards. “But we really fed off the fans today — they were really rocking in the 1st.”

NY improves to 2-0; Milwaukee drops to 0-2.

1. Homers on First 3 Pitches

Nestor Cortes Jr was traded by the Yanks to the Brewers for ace reliever Devin Williams in the winter. Nestor becomes a free agent at end of this year so it’s an important year for him — and it hasn’t started out well.

His 1st pitch of the game was a 90-MPH 4-seam fastball to new Yankee Paul Goldschmidt, and he hit it 413 feet to center for a homerun.

Nestor’s 2nd pitch of the game was a 90-MPH 4-seam fastball to new Yankee Cody Bellinger, and he hit it 451 feet to right center for a 2-0 Yankee lead.

Nestor’s 3rd pitch of the game was an 88-MPH cutter to Aaron Judge, and he hit it 468 feet to left for a 3-0 Yankee lead.

Nestor then struck out Jazz Chisholm Jr and got Anthony Volpe to ground out, but after throwing 2 balls to his former catcher Austin Wells, he threw a 91-MPH 4-seam fastball and Wells hit it 372 feet to left center for a 4-0 Yankee lead.

2. Fried Gives 3 Back

Unfortunately new ace Max Fried gave most of it back the top of the very next inning. A leadoff single by Sal Frelick, 1-out hit-by-pitch of Garrett Mitchell, and RBI single by Vinny Capra made it 4-1 NY.

Brice Turang then hit a double-play ball to 2nd but Anthony Volpe, after getting the out at 2nd, threw the ball wide of 1st for an error and the run scored to make it 4-2 NY.

A single by Jackson Chourio put runners on 1st and 3rd — and then Fried himself made an error on a come-backer that should have been the final out of the inning — instead it was a run and a 4-3 game.

Finally Fried struck out Contreras to end the inning with NY up 4-3.

3. Volpe 3-Run HR in 2nd

Anthony Volpe made amends in the bottom of the 2nd with a 3-run homer to left off an 88-MPH Cortes cutter giving NY a 7-3 lead. Goldschmidt had led off the inning with a walk, replaced on the basepaths by Judge who hit into a fielder’s choice, and then Jazz Chisholm had singled to put 2 runners on.

4. Judge Grand Slam & Chisholm HR in 3rd

Jasson Dominguez worked his 2nd walk of the afternoon to start the bottom of the 3rd — and that was it for Cortes. He was relieved by Connor Thomas, but the Yanks kept pouring it on.

Trent Grisham singled to left, Goldschmidt was hit by a pitch, Cody Bellinger reached on an infield single, scoring Dominguez, and Aaron Judge hit an 88-MPH cutter 396 feet to left for a Grand Slam and 12-3 Yankee lead.

Jazz Chisholm followed with a 442-foot blast to center off a 90-MPH 4-seam fastball from Thomas and it was back-t0-back and belly-to-belly homers and a 13-3 NY lead.

5. Judge HR in 4th Makes It 16-4

In the bottom of the 4th, Grisham worked a 1-out walk, Goldschmidt doubled to left, Bellinger drove in a run with a sac fly, and Aaron Judge plated 3 more with a 425-foot homer to center off an 85-MPH changeup from Thomas. NY 16 Milwaukee 4.

6. Fried Doesn’t Get the Win

Fried was done in by the defense again in the top of the 4th when with 2 outs, 3rd baseman Pablo Reyes booted a ball with 2 outs and a runner on 2nd — allowing the inning to continue. Hoskins hit an RBI single to make it 13-4, and Fried walked Sal Frelick before getting the final out. The 3 extra batters increased his pitch count.

And then in the top of the 5th, leading 16-4 — Fried got the 1st out but then a throwing error by 3rd baseman Pablo Reyes put a runner on, and an error by Jazz Chisholm at 2nd put 2 on.

The inning should have been over and Fried would have had the win — but instead it was 1st and 3rd, 1 out. Fried got a groundout for the 2nd out, but an RBI single by Christian Yellich sent him to the showers at 94 pitches.

Yoendrys Gomez came in and got the final out of the inning to get the win.

7. Judge Just Misses 4th HR in 6th

The Yanks weren’t done — Cody Bellinger singled in a run in the bottom of the 6th, and Aaron Judge followed with a rocket to right that looked like homer #4 but it one-bounced the wall for an RBI double.

8. Peraza HR in 7th Makes It 20-6

Oswaldo Peraza pinch-hit for Reyes in the 7th and ripped a 379-foot homer to left for a 20-6 NY lead.

9. Carrasco Finishes

Yoendrys Gomez pitched a shutout 6th, and 6’6 righty Brent Headrick pitched a shutout 7th for NY.

37-year-old former ace Carlos Carrasco pitched the 8th and 9th — yielding 5 hits and 3 runs including an RBI double by former Yankee Jake Bauers in the 8th, and a 2-run homer by Turang in the 9th.

Carrasco was signed by the Yanks at the start of Spring Training for pitching insurance — and has been penciled in as the Yankee’s 5th starter with the injuries to Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, and delayed season of Clarke Schmidt (won’t be ready til mid April).

Bauers pitched the bottom of the 8th for Milwaukee — getting Bellinger to pop out, Judge to line out to left, walking Chisholm and Volpe, then getting rookie J.C. Escarra to pop out in his first MLB at bat.

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401694933

 

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