Aaron Judge hit three home runs, including a grand slam and a career-high eight RBIs, in Saturday’s win over the Brewers.
Angelina Katsanis | AP photo
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NEW YORK — Aaron Judge combined with Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger to go deep on the first three pitches from Nestor Cortes, then hit two more homers as the New York Yankees set a team record with nine home runs in a 20-9 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers on Saturday.
Judge hit a solo homer, his ninth career grand slam and a two-run drive in his 40th multihomer game and third with three homers. He finished with a career-high eight RBIs.
He came up just short of becoming the 19th player to hit four homers in a game when his sixth-inning fly fell on the right-field warning track for a run-scoring double. He flied out in the eighth against Jake Bauers, an outfielder and first baseman.
Goldschmidt, Bellinger and Judge homered starting the first on the unusually warm 78-degree afternoon. Major League Baseball said this was the first time a team homered on its first three pitches since tracking of pitch counts began in 1988.
Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Oswald Peraza also homered.
Traded from the Yankees in December, Cortes gave up eight runs, six hits and five walks over two innings in his Brewers debut.
New York had five errors, its most since May 29, 2018, leading to four unearned runs off Max Fried.
Making his Yankees debut after signing a $218 million, eight-year contract, Fried allowed six runs, seven hits and two walks in 4 2/3 innings. Yoendrys Gómez (1-0) got four outs for his first big league win.
J.C. Escarra, a 29-year-old former Uber driver and substitute teacher, made his major league debut for New York. He struck out in the seventh as a pinch hitter against Chad Patrick, who also was making his debut.
PHILLIES 11, NATIONALS 6
WASHINGTON — Kyle Schwarber’s three-run shot — his second homer in two games — was the big blow in a five-run sixth inning, and Brandon Marsh’s three-run drive in the seventh that drew “Let’s go, Phillies!” chants at Nationals Park lifted Philadelphia to a win over Washington.
Jesús Luzardo struck out 11 in five innings in his Phillies debut. The only scoring he allowed came on Keibert Ruiz’s two-run homer in the second.
The Phillies tied it on Bryson Stott’s two-run shot in the fourth off Jake Irvin, who also lasted five innings.
Colin Poche entered in the sixth and loaded the bases with one out. He gave way to Lucas Sims, who walked in the go-ahead run and threw a wild pitch that scored another, stretching Philadelphia’s lead to 4-2.
Schwarber, who led off after batting fourth Thursday, then deposited a 1-2 pitch to right-center to make it 7-2, a lead that grew to 11-3.
ORIOLES 9, BLUE JAYS 5
TORONTO — Jordan Westburg hit two solo homers for his first career multihomer game, and Baltimore beat Toronto.
Colton Cowser also connected for Baltimore, and Ramón Urías hit a three-run double. The Orioles finished with 12 hits after they had three in Friday’s 8-2 loss.
Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer left his debut start with the Blue Jays after three innings because of soreness in his right lat muscle.
ROYALS 4, GUARDIANS 3
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bobby Witt Jr. hit a go-ahead RBI double in the seventh inning after Maikel Garcia tied it with a homer four batters earlier to help lead Kansas City over Cleveland.
Garcia led off the seventh with a 405-foot homer off Paul Sewald. Cavan Biggio followed with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Dairon Blanco, who stole second. With two outs, Witt lined a double to left to score Blanco with the go-ahead run.
Guardians six-time All-Star José Ramírez left in the sixth inning with a sprained right wrist after he was hurt in the third inning while attempting to steal second base. Gabriel Arias replaced Ramírez at third base.
ROCKIES 2, RAYS 1
TAMPA, Fla. — Brenton Doyle and Kyle Farmer each hit an RBI single to help the Colorado Rockies beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1 on Saturday.
Doyle drove in Nick Martini with a grounder back up the middle in the third inning. Farmer’s liner to right in the seventh brought home Hunter Goodman for a 2-0 lead.
Tampa Bay finished with 12 hits in its second regular-season game at the spring training home of the New York Yankees. But the Rays went 2 for 10 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.
REDS 3, GIANTS 2
CINCINNATI — Christian Encarnacion-Strand hit a go-ahead solo homer, Matt McLain had two extra-base hits and an RBI and Cincinnati spoiled the San Francisco debut of three-time Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander.
McLain, who missed the entire 2024 season with a shoulder injury, got the Reds on the board with a solo homer in the third inning and scored from second base on an RBI single by Elly De La Cruz in the fifth, tying the game at 2.
The 42-year-old Verlander struck out five, walked one, allowed two runs and six hits in five innings.
ANGELS 1, WHITE SOX 0
CHICAGO — Yoán Moncada hit an RBI single against his former team in the eighth inning, and Los Angeles blanked Chicago.
Jorge Soler walked with two outs in the eighth and advanced to third on Mike Clevinger’s wild pitch. Catcher Matt Thaiss had trouble locating the ball as Soler scampered around the bases.
Moncada then drove in Soler with a grounder back up the middle that went off Clevinger for an infield single.
CARDINALS 5, TWINS 1
ST. LOUIS — Lars Nootbaar had two hits and two RBIs, helping Erick Fedde and St. Louis beat Minnesota.
Nolan Arenado, Iván Herrera and Victor Scott II also had two hits apiece for St. Louis. Fedde permitted one run and two hits in six innings. He retired his last 10 batters.