The New York Yankees on Saturday made MLB history with batters smashing home runs on the first three pitches their lineup faced, while the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a second shaky start by touted right-hander Roki Sasaki to beat the Detroit Tigers.
In New York, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge each smacked a homer off the first offerings from Milwaukee pitcher Nestor Cortes, a former Yankee left-hander.
Austin Wells added a two-out homer to give the 27-time World Series champions their first four-homer inning since the club first took the field in 1903.
Photo: AFP
“It was electric, from the stadium crowd to just the guys in the dugout locked in and fired up,” Judge said after homering three times, including a grand slam, and setting a career high with eight RBIs in the Yankees’ 20-9 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers.
The MLB said it was the first time a team homered on its first three pitches since tracking of pitch counts began in 1988.
New York hit a team-record nine homers, matching the 1999 Cincinnati Reds against the Philadelphia Phillies and one shy of the major league mark set by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1987. The first of the Reds’ homers that day was hit by Yankees manager Aaron Boone.
Photo: AP
Wells, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr and Oswald Peraza also homered.
“Kind of a weird, crazy game,” Boone said.
Five of the homers were off old friend Cortes, dealt from the Yankees to the Brewers in December last year. Cortes left the ballpark without speaking to reporters in what the Brewers said was a miscommunication.
“My heart goes out to him because he’s a great, great, young man, great teammate,” Brewers manager Pat Murphy said. “Your heart just hurts for him.”
Wells homered in the first as the Yankees burst ahead 4-0 in the first four-homer first inning in team history. Volpe hit a three-run drive in the second for a 7-3 lead, and Judge’s ninth career slam opened a 12-3 margin in the third against Connor Thomas.
Chisholm made it back-to-back long balls, and the Yankees became the first big league team to hit seven homers in the first three innings.
Judge added a two-run homer in the fourth off Thomas, who was making his big league debut.
With a chance to become the 19th player to hit four homers in a game, Judge hit a sixth-inning fly that short-hopped the right-field wall for an RBI double. The two-time American League Most Valuable Player flied out to deep left in the eighth against former teammate Jake Bauers, an outfielder and first baseman making a mop-up appearance.
“He told me when I was on deck, is he was going to hit me in the shoulder. He didn’t want to see a fourth home run,” Judge said, smiling.
He flied out on a 55.3mph (89kph) offering.
“Gave him the best curveball I had and he still hit it pretty good,” Bauers said.
Batting leadoff for the first time in his 15-year major league career, Goldschmidt drove a fastball 413 feet (126m) into the Brewers’ bullpen in left field.
Goldschmidt had just gotten back to the dugout when Bellinger sent a fastball into the right-field bleachers.
“I was putting my equipment up and, yeah, I just heard it and looked up and I saw it flying out of there,” Goldschmidt said.
Judge had to settle himself.
“Bleacher Creatures are jumping up and down. Kind of got to step out and catch your breath there for a second before you step in the box because it kind of gets the heart rate going a little bit,” he said.
His first homer, on a cutter, went 468 feet and appeared to land in left field’s second deck.
“It was like just bang, bang, bang,” Bellinger said.
Meanwhile, Freddie Freeman had a homer and an RBI double, Teoscar Hernandez delivered a tiebreaking two-run double in the fifth inning, as the Dodgers extended their perfect start to the season with a 7-3 victory over the Tigers.
However, Sasaki’s Dodger Stadium debut ended in the second inning after he again struggled with his control. He issued four walks and got only five outs, while throwing 61 pitches to just 12 batters before manager Dave Roberts pulled him.
Sasaki did not blame nervousness for his wildness, although his manager and his catcher said it had to be a factor.
“I felt like I was able to get into the game pretty well, without any nerves,” Sasaki said through interpreter Will Ireton. “I just didn’t feel like I had the stuff today.”
Elsewhere, the San Diego Padres blanked the Atlanta Braves 1-0, the Los Angeles Angels pipped the Chicago White Sox 1-0, the St Louis Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Twins 5-1, the Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 4-2, the Baltimore Orioles downed the Blue Jays 9-5 and the Chicago Cubs survived the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3.
The Reds toppled the San Francisco Giants 3-2, the Phillies dominated the Washington Nationals 11-6, the Texas Rangers outplayed the Boston Red Sox 4-3, the Miami Marlins took 12 innings to overcome the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Kansas City Royals beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-3, the Houston Astros bested the New York Mets 2-1 and the Colorado Rockies trampled the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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