The third time through opponents’ lineups and the end of starts have haunted Nestor Cortes this season, so much so that he recently called his struggles in such situations “the story of my season.”
That tale added another painful chapter Wednesday when Cortes served up a seventh-inning, three-run blast to the Orioles’ Adam Frazier. The home run smacked into Yankee Stadium’s right field foul pole and ruined what had been an impressive evening for Cortes.
The Yankees still led, 5-4, at that point, but Baltimore scored eight total runs in the seventh after Jimmy Cordero and Albert Abreu followed Cortes out of the bullpen. The offensive outburst led to a 9-6 Orioles win, even though the Yankees were up, 5-1, when the inning began.
Cortes entered the game with a 1.503 OPS when pitching the third time through the order this season, and he left it after allowing five hits, four runs, two walks, five strikeouts and two home runs over six complete innings and 89 pitches. Ryan Mountcastle hit the other homer, a solo shot, in the fourth inning.
The Yankees’ seventh-inning implosion — which also included run-scoring hits from Gunnar Henderson, Anthony Santander and Austin Hays — wasted power displays from Gleyber Torres and Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Torres cranked two longballs in the contest, including a two-run dinger, while Kiner-Falefa added another two-run homer and a triple. Orioles starter Tyler Wells allowed those homers and five earned runs overall.
Typically a light hitter, “IKF” has enjoyed something of a surge lately, collecting five extra-base hits, including three home runs, over his last six games. For comparison, he had just two extra-base hits — a pair of doubles — over his first 30 games.
Both of Kiner-Falefa’s hits exceeded 100 miles per hour off the bat Wednesday. Not bad for a guy who began the day with an average exit velocity of 87.8 mph this season.
The Yankees added another run in the bottom of the seventh when Anthony Rizzo singled one home, but that was all that went well for the Bombers that inning.
With the series now tied at one, the Yankees will try to beat their division rival in Thursday’s rubber match. Another strong start from Clarke Schmidt would help after he held the last-place Reds to two earned runs over five innings on May 19, though the Orioles sent Schmidt for an early shower on April 7 in Baltimore.
Schmidt owns a 6.00 ERA this season.
Fellow righty Kyle Gibson will start for Baltimore. The veteran has a 4.27 ERA in his first 10 starts with the Orioles after signing with them over the offseason.
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