Nestor Cortes was knocked out by three home runs and Yankees batters struck out five in a 9-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
Cortes, who entered Saturday’s game with the lowest home ERA in all of baseball (1.81 in 64.2 innings), allowed six early runs as the Yanks fell to 59-41 on the season.
The Bronx Bombers managed just two hits in the first eight innings before striking out three in the ninth as Tampa moved to 49-49.
Here are the conclusions…
– After two quick outs in the first, Cortes was hit with back-to-back singles into very light contact (63.8 mph and 79.7 mph off the bat) to give the Rays’ starting lineup a scoring chance. But the left-hander dropped back to launch a fastball into the outside corner, past Johnny DeLuca to finish the painting.
After a quick 1-2-3 second, Cortes ran into trouble in the third, allowing a leadoff walk and a single, accurate pass. DJ Le Mahieu third. He hit a bouncer on LeMahieu for a 5-4-3 double play, but Curtis Mead powered a suspended first-pitch sweep for an RBI double off the wall in left.
Cortes struck out two with two outs in the fourth on a single and then walked, and this time he paid a big price when his 3-2 cutter dropped and went to the Rays’ No. 9 hitter Alex Jackson loaded just over the wall in the right-center gap for a three-run homer. The ball traveled just 364 feet and was a hurdle only at Yankee Stadium. It was also the 14th MLB home run the Yanks allowed to nine opposing hitters.
Cortes made another 3-2 count to start the fifth and the libero was left hanging in the outside corner and Isaac Paredes (in a 3-for-34 slump) didn’t miss, hauling it in for a 346-foot home run to left field. The boos rained down as another sweeper spun mid-plate and Randy Arozarena hit a deep shot (103.7 mph, 418 feet) into the visitor’s bullpen in left center.
Ending Cortes’ day was his final line: 4.1 innings, six runs, eight hits, two walks, one strikeout with three home runs on 92 pitches (61 at-bats).
– Ben Rice started the end of the first with a double to the gap in right center; beating the Rays starter Taj Bradleyit’s a 107.8 mph fastball right off the bat. But he got stuck. That double was the only hit the Yanks could get off the Tampa starter in seven innings.
– Austin Wells, batting cleanup for the first time this year, had an RBI chance in the first but fell on the strike. He came up again with a runner on first after a leadoff walk in the fourth, but hit a fastball on the first pitch for a custom-made 4-6-3 double kill.
– Alex Verdugo, who was hitting cleanup in Friday’s game but came down to the six hole, hit a custom-made 6-3 double play on the first pitch he saw to erase a leadoff walk on the second. He finished 0 for 3.
On the morning of June 15, Verdugo was batting .266 with a .757 OPS. Since then, he has had 16 hits in his last 108 at-bats, with just one home run and five RBI and 22 strikeouts for a .148/.207/.213 slash line and .420 OPS.
Verdugo is now batting .231 with a .658 OPS on the season.
– In the eighth, Antonio Volpe hit the Yanks’ second hit of the afternoon with a double to the gap right off the Rays reliever Shawn Armstrong. But after a hit, Armstrong made LeMahieu look and Rice struck out.
LeMahieu finished the day 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.
– After a 4 on 4 day in Friday’s victory, Juan Soto started 0 for 3 before breaking a leadoff triple in the ninth, the ball hit a diver’s glove José Siri right in the center left.
– Aaron Judge followed a 2-for-4 day by going 0-for-2 with a walk and was pulled for save in the top of the ninth.
– Michael Tonkin pitched 1.2 out of the bullpen, allowing one run to score when Josh MaciejewskiArozarena’s outfield changeup was highlighted by a 412-foot, two-run shot to left field in the seventh.
– Carlos Narvaezwho has played 472 games in the minors since joining the Yankee system in 2016, reached the top of the ninth in his MLB debut and added a single in the bottom half in his first big league at-bat.
– Tampa got back to .500 with the win and is now 22-22 as a visitor and 27-27 as a host.
Game MVP: Taj Bradley
After allowing a double to the first batter he faced, the Rays starter locked in and shut down the Yanks. Coming off seven shutout innings in his last start, he doubled down on the trick, allowing two walks along with one hit, while striking out five in 99 pitches (62 strikes). Bradley retired the last 11 batters he faced.
What is the next
The Yanks and Rays meet twice more in this series, with Sunday’s matinee starting at 1:35 pm in the Bronx.
Marcus Stroman (3.51 ERA and 1.324 WHIP in 105 innings) starts the home team. In his last game before the All-Star breakthe right-hander allowed one run on seven hits, two walks and one batter in 4.1 innings against Tampa.
Shane Baz (5.23 ERA and 1.452 WHIP in 10.1 innings) will make his third start of the year (12th of his career) for the visitors. The right-hander surrendered three runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts against New York last time out. He allowed two solo home runs (Wells and Soto), but the Rays won the day.
