NEW YORK ¨C It was a rough homecoming for Nestor Cortes on Saturday afternoon at Yankee Stadium.
After pitching five years with the Yankees, the veteran left-hander has a new home in Milwaukee. He made his debut with the Brewers in the Bronx, and it was a day to forget in a 20-9 loss at Yankee Stadium.
It was the worst outing of Cortes' career, as he allowed a career-high eight runs and five walks in two-plus innings.
Cortes¡¯ worst inning came in the first, when he allowed consecutive home runs to Paul Goldschmidt, Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge ¨C all on the first pitch ¨C to start the frame. Later in the inning, Austin Wells touched up Cortes with a dinger.
Cortes -- who was unavailable for comment Saturday and later apologized through a club spokesman -- didn¡¯t have any excuses as to why he was hit hard. He said he is healthy, but after playing all those years in the Bronx, he should have changed his game plan.
Cortes said the Bronx Bombers knew his routine on the mound ¨C throwing fastballs to start the game. The Yankees went a combined 4-for-6 with three homers against that pitch.
¡°Obviously, when you allow eight runs, it¡¯s not a good feeling,¡± Cortes said Sunday morning. ¡°Obviously, it didn¡¯t go the way [I] planned. I have to get ready for the next one. ¡ The five walks hurt me a lot. I feel like they know the type of pitcher that I am, what I do and [what] my strategy is. It was my fault to not deviate from that. They had a plan, they executed and I didn¡¯t. ¡ I¡¯m going to learn from it and on to the next start.¡±
Cortes didn¡¯t complain about the Yankees using the Torpedo model bats, where the barrel rests in a non-traditional location, closer to the hitter¡¯s hands. Cortes said several members of the 2024 Yankees used that model.
¡°That¡¯s nothing new to me. I know a few guys that did it last year. I don¡¯t think it matters to me. I get the science and technology behind it. I don¡¯t know. It really doesn¡¯t bother me,¡± Cortes said.
A day after his rough outing, Cortes was given a video tribute by the Yankees before the top of the third inning and received a nice ovation from Yankees fans. During those five seasons in New York, Cortes was 33-20 with a 3.61 ERA in 126 games.
¡°Throughout the years, I¡¯ve seen guys come back and get tribute videos. I didn¡¯t know mine was going to be a thing. I appreciate that video. I¡¯ve lived through a lot of good moments as a Yankee,¡¯ Cortes said.
¡°I guess the story when I was here was, I¡¯m not a tall guy. I¡¯m not a guy that throws the hardest and I¡¯m not the most talented in the room. But I showed up every day and did my best. I think that is appreciated.¡±