Home News Yankees waste Nestor Cortes’ gem in extra-inning loss to Rays

Yankees waste Nestor Cortes’ gem in extra-inning loss to Rays

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On an afternoon the Yankees lost the voice of their team, their bats, too, fell silent. 

Legendary broadcaster John Sterling said goodbye, retiring after 35 years behind the microphone, and then watched a game that would not have given his pipes a workout. 

The Yankees totaled four hits in 10 innings, wasting a gem from Nestor Cortes in the process, in a 2-0, extra-inning loss to the Rays in front of a sellout crowd of 47,629 in The Bronx on Saturday afternoon. 

Aaron Judge reacts after striking out during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on April 20, 2024. Robert Sabo for NY Post

The Yankees (14-7) allowed the Rays to even the series and moved to 0-1 in the post-Sterling era thanks to an offense that has scored runs in one of 19 frames against Tampa Bay pitching. 

The Yankees were held to four hits — two from Juan Soto, who has been carrying the offense — and watched the Rays finally break through against Caleb Ferguson. 

In the deciding 10th, Jose Caballero blasted an RBI double into the right-center field gap for the game’s first run. With one out, former Yankee Ben Rortvedt added an RBI single for a two-run gap that suddenly seemed insurmountable. 

Nestor Cortes’ pitches during the Yankees’ loss to the Rays on April 20, 2024. Robert Sabo for NY Post

The Yankees went quietly in the 10th, when Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres grounded out before Oswaldo Cabrera struck out. 

The Yankees were quiet against Tampa Bay’s Zach Eflin (six scoreless innings, three hits, six strikeouts) until the sixth, when Soto sent a ground-rule double down the right-field line. But a scuffling Aaron Judge followed with his third strikeout of the game. 

Judge, who had a shortened spring training because of an abdominal issue, ended up striking out in all four of his at-bats and is down to a .179 average and .682 OPS through 21 games. After his ninth-inning punchout, Judge heard boos while walking back to the dugout. 

Wasted was Cortes, who was brilliant overall but especially brilliant when he had to be. 

Cortes did not allow a run in seven innings in which he allowed six hits, walked none and struck out nine. The 17 swing-and-misses induced was Cortes’ most since Oct. 1, 2022, when the Orioles whiffed 19 times. 

The lefty was efficient (102 pitches) and excellent in lowering his ERA to 3.41. The rare times Cortes stepped into trouble, he found another level to escape. 

Jose Caballero hits an RBI-double in 10th inning of the Rays’ win over the Yankees on April 20, 2024. Getty Images

In the fifth and sixth innings, the Rays put two runners on base and watched Cortes go to work. In the fifth, Cortes blazed his way out of the jam by striking out Jose Siri and Rene Pinto on high fastballs. An inning later, he stranded two by getting a fly out from Isaac Paredes and a ground out from Amed Rosario. 

On an afternoon when everything was working, Cortes allowed himself to be funky. He dropped sidearm to strike out Paredes for his third straight strikeout in the fourth inning. He might not have used the pump-fake he tried Sunday in Cleveland (and learned it was illegal), but there were hesitations and sped-up deliveries that continually worked. 

Cortes got help in the third inning, when Yandy Diaz blooped a two-out single into center and Pinto unwisely tried to go from first to third, Trent Grisham gunning him down for the frame’s final out. 

Luke Weaver and Clay Holmes threw scoreless innings, but the problems were larger than the Yankees’ bullpen. 

In a game in which the Judge and Soto Yankees received excellence from Cortes, they fell short. 

That’s baseball, Suzyn.

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