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The third time through opponents’ lineups and the end of starts have haunted Nestor Cortes this year, so much so that he recently called his struggles in such situations “the story of my season.”
That tale added another painful chapter Wednesday when Cortes served up a seventh-inning, three-run blast to the Orioles’ Adam Frazier. The home run smacked into Yankee Stadium’s right field foul pole and ruined what had been an impressive evening for Cortes.
“The ball Frazier hit was, I thought, well located for who I was facing and what my heater does,” Cortes said afterward. “He was getting beat all day with the heater, so felt like he probably wanted to cheat a little bit on it, and it was more middle than I probably wanted it, but still in a good spot. If that ball’s two inches away, he probably pops it up. So different outcome. Credit to him. He put a good swing, and three runs there killed us.”
The Yankees still led, 5-4, at that point, but Baltimore scored eight total runs in the seventh after Jimmy Cordero and Albert Abreu followed Cortes out of the bullpen. The offensive outburst led to a 9-6 Orioles win, even though the Yankees were up, 5-1, when the inning began.
Cortes entered the game with a 1.503 OPS when pitching the third time through the order this season, and he left it after allowing five hits, four runs, two walks, five strikeouts and two home runs over six complete innings and 89 pitches. Ryan Mountcastle hit the other homer, a solo shot, in the fourth inning.
Despite the tragic ending, Aaron Boone found Cortes’ overall night “encouraging” after he held the Blue Jays to two runs over six complete innings his last time out on May 18.
“Obviously, this is a tough one, and a tough loss and everything, but one of the things from it is another strong outing against a good team for Nestor,” Boone said. “I know it goes bad there a little bit at the end, but take a step back and look at how he threw the ball, especially coming off his last one.”
The Yankees’ seventh-inning implosion — which also included run-scoring hits from Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Santander and Austin Hays — wasted power displays from Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Torres cranked two longballs in the contest, including a two-run dinger, while Kiner-Falefa added another two-run homer and a triple. Orioles starter Tyler Wells allowed those homers and five earned runs overall.
Typically a light hitter, “IKF” has enjoyed something of a surge lately, collecting five extra-base hits, including three home runs, over his last six games. For comparison, he had just two extra-base hits — a pair of doubles — over his first 30 games.
Both of Kiner-Falefa’s hits exceeded 100 miles per hour off the bat Wednesday. Not bad for a guy who began the day with an average exit velocity of 87.8 mph this season.
The Yankees added another run in the bottom of the seventh when Anthony Rizzo singled one home, but that was all that went well for the Bombers that inning.
“Things like that are gonna happen” Kiner-Falefa said of the seventh and the Yankees’ loss, “but at the end of the day, we still have an opportunity tomorrow.”
With the series now tied at one, the Yankees will try to beat their division rival in Thursday’s rubber match. Another strong start from Clarke Schmidt would help after he held the last-place Reds to two earned runs over five innings on May 19, though the Orioles sent Schmidt for an early shower on April 7 in Baltimore.
Schmidt owns a 6.00 ERA this season.
Fellow righty Kyle Gibson will start for Baltimore. The veteran has a 4.27 ERA in his first 10 starts with the Orioles after signing with them over the offseason.
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