Judge homers 3 times as Yanks go deep on Cortes' first 3 pitches and hit 9 HRs vs. Brewers

NEW YORK (AP) — Boom! Boom! Boom!

Three home runs on the first three pitches.

Aaron Judge followed Paul Goldschmidt and Cody Bellinger to combine for unprecedented fireworks Saturday, starting one of the most memorable days of Judge's already indelible career.

“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 New York Yankees' 20-9 rout of the Milwaukee Brewers.

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.

Before the game, Yankees manager Aaron Boone saw Reggie Jackson, who hit three home runs on three pitches in Game 6 of the 1977 World Series.

“Maybe it was that,” Boone said.

New York hit a team-record nine homers, matching the 1999 Cincinnati Reds against Philadelphia and one shy of the major league mark set by Toronto vs. Baltimore in 1987. The first of the Reds' homers that day was hit by Boone.

Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Oswald Peraza also homered on the unusually warm 78-degree afternoon.

“Kind of a weird, crazy game,” Boone said.

Five of the homers were off old friend Nestor Cortes, dealt from the Yankees to Brewers in December, including four in the first inning. 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 AL MVP flied out to deep left in the eighth against former teammate 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 55.3 mph 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 into the Brewers’ bullpen in left field. Wells homered starting Thursday's opening win, also atop the lineup for the first time.

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.

Judge had his 40th multihomer game. While proud, he didn't want to make too much of one win, framing it within last year's World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. He also noted the Yankees' sloppiness: five errors that led to four unearned runs and caused Max Fried to be removed with a high pitch count after 4 2/3 innings, costing him a chance to win in his Yankees debut.

“We’re on a mission,” Judge said. “A lot of guys are disappointed with what happened last year, myself included, and it starts with and preparing ourself now.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

New York Yankees' J.C. Escarra walks back to the dugout after he struck out swinging during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Milwaukee Brewers' Nestor Cortes gathers himself on the mound during the first inning of the baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger (35) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees's Cody Bellinger (35) scores on an RBI double by Aaron Judge during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates his two-run home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a grand slam in the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a grand slam in the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Paul Goldschmidt (48) scores on Aaron Judge's grand slam during the third inning of the baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) hits a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees's Aaron Judge (99) watches his grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) heads home after hitting a grand slam in the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Aaron Judge (99) runs to first for a single in the second inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Austin Wells (28) heads home after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Austin Wells (28) watches the ball after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr (65) throws during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Yankees, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankees' Cody Bellinger (35) smiles after crossing home plate after hitting a home run during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

New York Yankee's Cody Bellinger (35) celebrates with Aaron Judge after hitting a home run during the first inning of baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A University of Minnesota graduate business student who's being held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement is suing for his immediate release, saying his arrest violated his rights and he's been given little explanation for why he's being held.

The lawsuit filed this week on behalf of Doğukan Günaydın, 28, a Turkish citizen, says two plainclothes federal officers arrested him on the street outside his St. Paul home while he was on his way to class Thursday.

“Doğukan feared he was being kidnapped as a man in a hooded sweatshirt grabbed him and handcuffed him,” according to his petition.

The lawsuit partially comports with a statement issued Monday by the Department of Homeland Security that he was arrested because he had a conviction for drunken driving on his record. The federal agency said he was not detained for any political activity. His petition says Günaydın has attended no protests and has written no politically driven publications.

His attorney, Hannah Brown, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday, nor did Justice Department and State Department officials in Washington.

Elected officials in Minnesota — including Gov. Tim Walz and U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith — have been demanding an explanation from Homeland Security officials.

“Snatching up students who come here legally to work hard and get an education does not make you tough on immigration,” Walz tweeted. “We need answers.”

Günaydın was in the U.S. on a student visa until the Department of Homeland Security canceled it Thursday. The petition alleges that action was illegal. It says he was held for several hours after his arrest without being told why, except that his F-1 student visa was “retroactively revoked.”

But the petition cites online records showing that his student visa wasn't terminated until roughly seven hours after his arrest, with the only reason listed as “otherwise failing to maintain status,” citing laws that say an alien is deportable if they fail to maintain the immigration status under which they were admitted to the U.S. or whose presence in the U.S. “would have potentially adverse foreign policy consequences.”

The petition says authorities have met none of those legal grounds for terminating his student visa. It says a drunken driving condition is not a legal basis, citing a DHS list of termination reasons.

His petition acknowledges that Günaydın was arrested for drunken driving on June 27, 2023, but says he pleaded guilty, served his sentence and complied with all conditions of his release. It says he has no other criminal convictions or arrests except for a 2021 speeding ticket when he was an undergraduate at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

After his conviction, Günaydın was accepted into the university's Carlson School of Business, awarded a scholarship and maintained a full course load with a high grade-point average, the petition says.

“Importantly, Mr. Günaydın has committed no crime that is cause for termination of his Student Status or that renders him deportable,” his attorney wrote.

After his arrest, Günaydın was taken to the Sherburne County Jail in Elk River, which also holds federal prisoners, and was told he'd get a hearing before an immigration judge April 8, but as of the lawsuit's filing, he hadn't been given any kind of charging document or hearing notice, his petition says.

“Without a charging document, Mr. Günaydın and counsel remain in the dark about the basis for his detention,” his attorney wrote.

The petition asks the court to order Günaydın's immediate release, declare his arrest and continued detention illegal, and restore his student status.

“Even if he is ultimately freed, as long as Doğukan remains in ICE's physical custody, he will be prevented from speaking freely and openly and his unlawful detention will serve to chill others,” his attorney wrote.

State court records show that Günaydın was arrested in Minneapolis in 2023 after a police officer saw him driving erratically. A preliminary breath test showed his blood alcohol level at 0.20%, well above the legal limit of 0.08%. A breath test in jail almost 90 minutes later registered 0.17%.

He pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor count of drunken driving, was given credit for four days served in custody and was ordered to perform one day of community service in lieu of further jail time. His fines and court fees totaled $528.

In his plea document, which both Günaydın and his attorney signed, he agreed he understood that, as a noncitizen, his guilty plea could result in deportation.

A person walks on campus at University of Minnesota in Minneapolis on April 21, 2020. (Glenn Stubbe/Star Tribune via AP, File)