Judge hits 3 of Yanks' 9 homers with 8 RBIs as NY goes deep on first 3 pitches, routs Brewers 20-9

NEW YORK (AP) — 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 (0-1) 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.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton, sidelined by pain in both elbows, had started taking dry swings.

After the Brewers closed to 4-3 in the second, Volpe hit a three-run homer in the bottom half.

New York homered eight times in a game twice, at the Philadelphia Athletics on June 28, 1939 (including two by Joe DiMaggio), and against the Chicago White Sox on July 31, 2007.

Yankees RHP Marcus Stroman and RHP Aaron Civale makes their first starts in Sunday's series finale.

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

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' 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's Aaron Judge (99) celebrates in the dugout after hitting a 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)

ROME (AP) — Italy’s main trade union confederation on Tuesday said it was joining the prosecution of a farm owner charged with the murder of an Indian migrant worker who bled to death after his arm was cut off by a piece of equipment.

Antonello Lovato, 39, has been accused of abandoning the injured and bleeding Satnam Singh, 31, and failing to call an ambulance following the incident in Latina, a largely agricultural province south of Rome, on June 17, 2024. Prosecutors originally considered charging Lovato with manslaughter, but raised it to murder with malice after the fact since he was aware the actions could cause death.

At the opening of his murder trial on Tuesday, Lovato said that “he lost his head,'' when he saw Singh, who was working in the country illegally, bleeding. ”I wasn't myself. I didn't want him to die,'' he was cited by the news agency ANSA as saying.

Outside the court, dozens of union members, including Sikh workers wearing turbans, demonstrated against the system of exploitative, underpaid migrant labor in Italy's agricultural sector, called, “caporalato.''

“I believe that what happened was apparent to everyone,'' Maurizio Landini, the secretary-general of the powerful CGIL trade union federation, told the crowd. "As is the logic of exploitation known as ‘ caporalato,’ which allows for people to be treated like merchandise, like parts of a machine that can be easily bought and sold for the lowest price. And I insist that it is this culture that needs to be changed.”

The CGIL is joining the prosecution as civil complainants, Landini was cited by the LaPresse news agency as saying. Under Italian law, parties recognized by the court as injured in the commission of crime can join the prosecution, question witnesses and possibly win damage awards in the case of conviction.

“We think it is important to seek justice, above all to put in motion everything necessary to change the way of doing business so episodes like this can never be repeated,’’ Landini said. “We don’t think this is an isolated case. It is a mistake to think this problem can be resolved with this trial. We are worried because the season is starting again.’’

The trial continues May 27.

Antonello Lovato, center, arrives for his trial at the Latina court, south of Rome, Italy, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)

A protest organized by CGIL trade union in front of Latina court, south of Rome, Italy, Tuesday, April 1, 2025. (Cecilia Fabiano/LaPresse via AP)