Aaron Judge Hits 3 homers, Yankees Break Franchise Record as Nestor Cortes Jr. Gets Bludgeoned in Nightmare Homecoming

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 multi-homer 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. 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.