The New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks would face off in the second game of their three-game set, as Nestor Cortes would face off against Zac Gallen in the desert. With the Yankees rattling off five-straight wins to open their season, they were hoping to continue the good times, as their offense has been able to get the job done and the pitching had held its own as well, especially out of the bullpen. Instead, they’d get shut out and allow more runs than they had in any of their previous games (7).
It was an ugly loss for the Yankees, who take their first loss of the season and fall to 5-1 in 2024, as this marks the first post-game recap coming off of a loss as well.
Nestor Cortes Grinds Through Five Innings, Yankees Get Blanked
Things would begin on the wrong foot for the Yankees, as Nestor Cortes would get battered in the first inning, allowing three runs on five hits before being bailed out by some poor Arizona baserunning on a bunt. He’d settle from there on out, but with eight hits and two walks allowed, it still feels like we haven’t seen the vintage Nestor Cortes we saw in 2022 when he was an All-Star.
With just two strikeouts out of the 24 batters he faced, the Diamondbacks were able to make him work extensively for his outs, and they’d continue to bludgeon the Yankees after he departed. Victor Gonzalez would allow a three-base error and a walk in the seventh inning, with Jake Cousins coming in and allowing a blast to Christian Walker in his first appearance as a Yankee. He’d clean it up afterward, with the only other run allowed coming from a passed ball, as he struck out four batters with one earned run in two innings.
The offense is what killed the Yankees the most today, as they mustered just three hits and three walks, and an early theme has been a lack of damage contact. While we’re used to the Yankees running up high exit velocities and depositing baseballs into orbit, they haven’t been doing that in the early going and today that reared its ugly head. How the Yankees can get their offense to mesh a patient approach with damage contact on mistakes remains to be seen, but it’s crucial to have the ability to do both.
It was just an ugly game for the Yankees, but thankfully the Baltimore Orioles lost, so their lead in the AL East (1 GB) remains the same for now. They’ll send Carlos Rodon out against Merrill Kelly tomorrow afternoon for the final game of this seven-day road trip, hoping to pick up another series win and go into the home opener against the Toronto Blue Jays flying high.