Brewers’ pitching staff gives up 20 runs in loss to Yankees

Box Score

Saturday afternoon was one to forget for the Brewers. They trailed from start to finish against the Yankees, falling behind right away and never recovering as they took a 20-9 loss. It was the most runs allowed in a game by the Brewers in seven years.

Nestor Cortes made his Brewers debut on Saturday afternoon, hoping to establish himself against his former team. Unfortunately, it did not go well at all for him. The first three pitches he threw were all hit out of the park, and he was behind 3-0 just three pitches into his start. He allowed another home run later in the inning, putting the team in a 4-0 hole after the first.

It didn’t get much better from there. After a brief comeback in the second, where the Brewers closed the gap to 4-3, the game continued to go downhill. The Yankees tacked on in every inning except the fifth and eighth. Cortes was hit for eight runs in 2-plus innings, and Connor Thomas allowed another eight in two innings. Elvis Peguero and Chad Patrick each allowed two runs as well. As a team, they combined to allow a total of nine home runs: five by Cortes, three by Thomas, and one by Patrick. The only “pitcher” that didn’t allow a run was first baseman Jake Bauers, who pitched a clean eighth inning.

The 20 runs allowed is the most the team has allowed in a game since 2018. The last time they allowed 20 runs in a game was on August 2 that season against the Dodgers. Most of the damage done by the Yankees was from Aaron Judge, who had four hits, including three home runs. He also scored four runs and had eight RBIs. Cody Bellinger added on three hits, and Paul Goldschmidt and Jazz Chisholm Jr. each had two (with each also adding on a home run).

There’s some encouragement to take from this game, though. The offense did get to Max Fried, scoring six runs off of him (though only two were earned). Jackson Chourio bounced back from a five-strikeout opening game to record two hits today. Garrett Mitchell was the only other Brewer with a multi-hit day. The offense combined for 13 hits, with every starter except Joey Ortiz recording at least one hit. They also took advantage of five Yankees errors to help score those nine runs. Only three of the 13 hits went for extra bases. Chourio and Bauers each had a double in the loss. The lone home run on the Brewers side came from Brice Turang, who hit one out in the ninth.

This one will sting on the stat sheet for a while, at least until stats start accumulating and the impact is lessened over the course of a 162-game season. For now, it’s back to work tomorrow afternoon as the Brewers look to avoid the sweep. They’ll send Aaron Civale to the mound to face Marcus Stroman. First pitch is set for 12:35 p.m. on FanDuel Sports Wisconsin and the Brewers Radio Network.