Nestor Cortes' Brewers home debut made nasty Yankees fans eat their words

Historically, the Milwaukee Brewers have always been a fairly quiet team during your average MLB offseason. Sure, the Christian Yelich trade happened in the month of January, but overall, the team prefers to make periodic small-scale splashes here and there rather than going all-in on any specific trade or free agent target.

That's why this past winter, when they traded All-Star closer Devin Williams to the New York Yankees for Nestor Cortes and Caleb Durbin, it took more than a few Brewers fans by surprise. Making things even worse was Cortes making his debut on his new club (against his former one) and - to put it nicely - falling flat on his face.

Taking on the Yankees, the left-hander went just two innings and surrendered eight earned runs with two strikeouts and five walks. He also managed to allow a whopping five home runs (including three in a row to start the game). This was basically the worst way to start your tenure on a new team, and Yankees fans were loving the fact that he fell short.

Fast forward to Thursday night and Cortes made everything right in his home debut for the Crew.

Nestor Cortes' Brewers home debut made nasty Yankees fans eat their words

While Brewers fans were understandably antsy after seeing Cortes' first start, and Yankees fans were pumping their fists and throwing insults, the 2022 All-Star put an effort together that'll ease the minds of Brewers fans and silence the hate from New York.

Cortes was in complete control over the NL Central-rival Cincinnati Reds. He went six innings, striking out six while walking two and allowing just one base hit. All throughout the outing, Cortes appeared to be in complete control and looked a whole lot more like the pitcher the Brewers thought they were acquiring in exchange for Williams.

This six-inning domination of the Reds lowered Cortes' season ERA to 9.00, which really highlights just how awful his debut on the Brewers was.

There's a reason why Cortes was required to be part of the package coming from the Bronx to the Brew Crew. While his track record has been bogged down a bit by injuries and overall inconsistencies on the mound, he's also shown on more than one occasion that he's capable of being an All-Star-caliber arm when he's on his A Game.

This is his eighth year in the big leagues, and he's put together 2.6 bWAR or higher in three seasons, including as recently as last year. The Brewers didn't acquire him to lead their staff and be the club's ace, but getting No. 2 or No. 3 production out of him will be more than enough, especially if he continues to pitch more like he did against the Reds than he did against his former team.