Nasty turn of events for Nestor
Nestor Cortes lost his health, control and the Yankees’ lead all in one nightmare inning on Sunday.
The Yankees’ No. 2 starter left with a left groin injury in the third inning of an eventual 6-5, ALCS-ending loss to the Astros in Game 4, which completed the sweep and sent Houston to the World Series.
Cortes had been sidelined for 2 ¹/₂ weeks in late August and early September with the groin injury that he quietly aggravated at the beginning of the postseason. He still started the
Yankees’ Game 5 victory of the ALDS on short rest, in which he threw five one-run innings against the Guardians.
“I was trying to get through it as much as possible,” Cortes said after his breakout, AllStar year finished. “Un- til it finally kicked me.”
The Yankees had provided something rare against the Astros — both optimism and runs — and entered the third inning with a three-run lead that quickly evaporated.
Cortes walked No. 9 hitter Martin Maldonado on five pitches. After three pitches with decreased velocity to Jose Altuve, manager Aaron Boone and trainer Tim Lentych went to speak with Cortes, who remained in the game because he told Boone he was healthy enough to compete.
Cortes walked Altuve to put two base runners on. He fell behind Jeremy Peña, 3-1, before serving up a three-run homer to left field to the Astros’ shortstop to tie the score at 3-3.
“It sucks,” Cortes said. “It’s kind of embarrassing that that happened.”
In the inning, Cortes’ four-seam fastball — which averaged 91.8 mph this season — never touched 90 mph. His slider, which had sat at 77.1 mph this season, averaged 74 mph. After Peña’s home run, Cortes walked off the mound with Lentych and was replaced by Wandy Peralta, who coughed up the go-ahead run on a Yuli Gurriel single.
Cortes said he would undergo an MRI Monday. On Sunday — a chilly night in which he continually blew on his left hand — he did not have his best stuff or control.
“We noticed all of a sudden the downtick in velocity and more importantly the command, because there’s times when he’ll drop in velocity and that’s not a big red flag,” Boone said. “But obviously walking two guys in a row there, unfortunate.”