Aaron Boone said that he “liked the matchup,”when explaining his head-scratching decision to bring in Nestor Cortes in the bottom of the 10th inning to face the heart of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ lineup, ultimately leading to a demoralizing Game 1 loss for the Yankees at the 2024 World Series on Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
With the Yankees leading 3-2 thanks to Jazz Chisholm’s heady base-running, Yankees reliever Jake Cousins yielded a one-out walk to Gavin Lux and a single to Tommy Edman, putting the winning runs on with Los Angeles’ big guns of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman — the first and third thumpers being left-handed — due up.
Boone had southpaws Cortes and reliever Tim Hill up in the bullpen, but the Yankees’ skipper opted to go with the starter who had not pitched in a game since Sept. 18 (37 games) due to an elbow injury.
“I just liked the matchup. Reality is he’s been throwing the ball real well the last few weeks as he’s been getting ready for this,” Boone said. “I knew with one out it’d be tough to double up Shohei if Tim Hill gets him on the ground and with Mookie behind him. That’s a tough matchup there. I felt convicted with Nestor there.”
Cortes accomplished the first part of his insurmountable trial well. He got the superstar Ohtani to fly out in foul territory behind an impressive catch by Alex Verdugo in right field. However, his momentum from the running catch sent him tumbling into the stands, automatically awarding Lux and Edman 90 feet.
Boone ordered the intentional walk of Betts to load the bases, only for Freeman to jump on a first-pitch fastball from Cortes and crush the first-ever walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam lifts Dodgers to Game 1 World Series win over Yankees
“I wish I could’ve throw it a little higher,” Cortes said of his fateful fastball. “He put a good swing on it and I knew he was going to be aggressive. Like I said, I wanted it to be higher. I just didn’t get it to the spot. Right off the hand it looked OK, but I just didn’t get it high enough.”
It certainly looks as though Boone set Cortes up to fail. To not pitch in a competitive setting for five weeks and then be called into as high-leverage a situation as possible to face three former MVPs is not just playing with fire, it is setting yourself up for a loss.
While Boone will get the heat for this, along with pulling Gerrit Cole after just 88 pitches early in the seventh inning, Cortes came to the defense of his manager.
“If I wasn’t ready enough ad I wasn’t healthy enough, I would have it done it and they would have not allowed me to,” Cortes said. “I think we’re in a good spot and I’ve got another opportunity. I want four games in this series. The way it went down, it was right there in our fingertips, but we’re going to come back tomorrow strong.”
