Immediately after losing out on Juan Soto, Brian Cashman went to work, making several moves hoping to help the New York Yankees get back to the World Series. One of those big moves saw the team trade Nestor Cortes Jr. and Caleb Durbin to the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Devin Williams. While the Yankees were acquiring one of the best closers in the game, they gave up a good amount in exchange for just one year of the dynamic reliever.
Cortes, a mainstay in New York's rotation, was the big piece that the Brewers received. He might not be an ace, but he had been rock-solid throughout most of his five-year tenure in the Bronx, and was particularly effective at Yankee Stadium. In his career, Cortes had posted a 3.21 ERA in 65 appearances (44 starts) in the Bronx, and he had a 3.11 ERA in 15 starts at Yankee Stadium last season.
The southpaw had a prime opportunity in front of him to make the Yankees regret shipping him away, opening his season pitching in a ballpark that was once extremely comfortable for him. Based on the results of his first inning back in the Bronx, the Yankees are doing just fine without Cortes.
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Nestor Cortes' first inning back at Yankee Stadium did not go at all how he envisioned
Aaron Boone made a somewhat controversial decision to use Paul Goldschmidt, a player who had never hit out of the leadoff spot to start a game, at the top of the order. That decision paid off, as he launched his first home run as a Yankee to left-center field on the first pitch he saw from Cortes. Cody Bellinger immediately followed suit by hitting a home run to right-center on the next pitch. Somehow, on the third pitch of the game, reigning AL MVP Aaron Judge launched a 468-foot blast to left.
Nestor Cortes returned to the Bronx, and the Yankees hit three homers on his first three pitches of the game š¤Æ
ā FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 29, 2025
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/AkljraHiyM
Cortes' first three pitches against his old team, all high fastballs, were launched over the fence. That was the first time in New York's rich history that the team went back-to-back-to-back to lead off a game.
Per the #Yankees, Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge are the first trio in team history to ever go back-to-back-to-back to lead off a game.
ā Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) March 29, 2025
After 4 total HR off Nestor Cortes, the Yanks lead the #Brewers 4-0 after 1 inning of play.
If you thought Cortes' homecoming couldn't get any worse, Austin Wells, a catcher who had a .526 OPS against left-handers last season, hit an opposite-field home run to extend the Yankees' lead. Cortes allowed four home runs before he even finished up the first inning of his Brewers career.
Yankees fans cheered Cortes during pre-game introductions on Thursday, cheered for him again on Saturday before he took the mound, and got to go nuts three separate times before the southpaw even managed to record an out. Cortes still has time to show Brewers fans why Milwaukee traded for him, and the Brewers' bats can always steal this game, but the left-hander did not have the return he had hoped for.