Nestor Cortes knows exactly why his former Yankees teammates crushed him in brutal Bronx return

Join Post Sports+ for exciting subscriber-only features, including real-time texting with Greg Joyce about the inside buzz on the Yankees.Nestor Cortes blamed his awful return to The Bronx on a simple factor: The Yankees know him better than anyone else.And on Saturday, they made him pay.After the game, Cortes left Yankee Stadium without speaking to reporters.

On Sunday morning, he acknowledged it was a “brutal” afternoon.“Five walks hurt me a lot,’’ Cortes said.“I feel they know what type of pitcher I am and what I do and [what] my strategy is.

It’s my fault to not have deviated from that.”The strategy for the Yankees included jumping on Cortes’ first pitch, as Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge all hit homers on first-pitch fastballs to open the game.“They had a plan and executed it well and I didn’t,’’ Cortes said.“They were ambushing.

They know I throw fastballs, they know I throw fastballs often, and they know the location I’m going to.It was on me for not making the adjustment earlier- or at all the whole day — because the whole day was brutal for me.

I’m gonna learn from it.”Cortes said he felt fine physically and was ready to move on to his next start after allowing eight runs — and five homers — in two innings in the 20-9 defeat at Yankee Stadium.All of those stats were career-worsts for the lefty, who was traded to the Brewers in the offseason as part of a package in exchange for closer Devin Williams.“Obviously, when you allow eight runs, it’s not a good feeling,’’ Cortes said.“It didn’t go the way I planned.”He called it “a little weird” pitching against his former team.“I spent a few years over there and was able to be on their side and not have to face them,” Cortes said.

“This comes with the territory, being a major league pitcher, you never know where you’re gonna end up.You’re face somebody you know.

It happened to be yesterday.”...