The New York Yankees looked to finish their series off against the Los Angeles Angels off on a good note, and after rookie Will Warren's disastrous start on the second game of Wednesday's doubleheader, they were turning the ball over to the more experienced hand of southpaw Nestor Cortes. But few things seem to go according to plan for the Yankees' rotation these days.
Cortes allowed six earned runs to cross the plate in just 4.1 innings of work, and the Yankees could not muster enough offense to make up for his shaky start. In the end, the Yankees took a 9-4 loss to the Angels, with the silver lining in the loss being that the Baltimore Orioles also did not win their game tonight — keeping New York tied for the AL East division lead.
It is safe to say that the Yankees' starting pitching situation is not ideal at the moment. But manager Aaron Boone isn't about to lose confidence in his guys after a few rough starts, as he still believes that his team has what it takes to compete.
“We have everything we need,” Boone said of the Yankees' rotation, per Max Goodman of NJ.com.
Aaron Boone also made mention of the fact that Nestor Cortes was throwing some good pitches but simply wasn't able to finish off opposing batters. Moreover, the Yankees should be getting some reinforcements back soon, with Clarke Schmidt continuing to recover from the lat injury that sent him to the 60-day injured list.
But games against teams out of playoff contention should be the Yankees' to capitalize on, and it will be difficult not to look at this game against the Angels as a missed opportunity.
Nestor Cortes has slowed down for the Yankees
To start 2024, Nestor Cortes was pitching like a man on a mission, similarly to how the entire Yankees' rotation was performing. After an injury-marred 2023 campaign, seeing Cortes start the season off on the right foot is a sight for sore eyes for those who believe that he can return to the pitcher was during his All-Star 2022 season.
However, Cortes' past five starts have been uninspiring, to say the least. Emblematic of the downturn in the performance of the Yankees' rotation over the past month or so, Cortes has allowed fewer than three runs in a start just once since June 23, and over the course of his five most recent starts, he has allowed a total of 24 earned runs in 23.1 innings of work, which is good for an unsightly 9.26 ERA.
It was a bit of a shocking development when the Yankees reportedly made Nestor Cortes available in a trade. The deal they had in place was to bring in Gold Glove-caliber shortstop Tommy Edman, a move that was contingent on their acquisition of Jack Flaherty. But the Yankees decided to stand pat past the trade deadline, not acquiring any starting pitching reinforcements.
Will the Yankees regret their decision to not bolster their starting rotation? If the Yankees' starters don't undergo some positive regression, then it will be difficult for them to contend deep into the postseason. Nevertheless, they have Aaron Boone's full confidence, and having your skipper believe in you has to count for something.
“I don't feel like Nestor is that far off. It just comes down to finishing off execution. [Marcus Stroman], we have to get rolling a little bit. We have the guys to go out there. It's just getting a few guys going and getting to that next level of execution,” Boone added, per Chris Kirschner of The Athletic.
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