After two days of game cancellations due to inclement weather rolling through the Bronx on Wednesday and Thursday this week, the Division Series between the Yankees and Guardians continued on Friday. With a major victory in Game 1 of the series, the Yankees were off to a fine start to their playoff run.
With a great pitching performance by Yankee ace, Gerrit Cole, the offense didn’t have to score too much to secure the victory. After such an impressive outing, starting pitcher Nestor Cortes had big shoes to fill in Game 2.
Cortes was one of the most dominant starting pitchers in the league this season and some would argue that he had a better season than Cole. While Cole struck out batters nearly 30 percent more often, Cortes managed to allow over a run less, per nine innings.
The dynamic range of what kind of pitchers became a truly difficult experience for opposing teams. While Cole has a high 90s fastball with a vicious selection of off-speed pitches, he struggles at times to keep the ball in the yard. While Cortes doesn’t necessarily have lights-out stuff, he pitches to soft contact to incorporate the defense into his game.
His high 80s cut fastball and excellent slider have made him a very difficult pitcher to square up consistently. His impeccable command and veteran-like intuition allowed him to remain dominant as the season progressed.
As mentioned, Cortes has proven to be a tough pitcher to face for opposing teams, and game 2 was no exception. He came out of the gate strong and had very little issue chewing through the Guardians’ offense early. However, when the lineup flipped over, the Guardians clearly changed their approach against him as collectively they started to drive his pitch count up. He only needed 20 pitches to get through the first two innings, but he need 26 to just get through the third.
His pitch count continued to grow as the next couple of innings went on, as the Guardians progressively got more patient the deeper he got into his start. He battled the entire time and remained relatively effective throughout, even adding a highlight reel-worthy play to end the fourth inning. But by the end of the fifth inning, his count reached a total of 92 pitches, indicating he was very close to the end of his leash.
After recording two outs in the fifth, Yankees manager, Aaron Boone called for a new arm. Cortes’ final line was still very respectable with 5.2 innings pitched and only two earned runs allowed.
In one of the most epic pitchers duels we have seen in the Division Series in recent years, both teams found each other deadlocked at two-a-piece through nine innings.
Both bullpens proved difficult to muster anything against for the remainder of the game after both starters left the game in the sixth inning. Shane Bieber had a very similar start to the likes of Cortes with 5.2 innings pitched and two earned runs allowed. The Yankees worked his pitch count well, but were snake bitten by the strikeout.
One man in particular that fell victim to the “K” was the potential MVP of the league, Aaron Judge. After coming off of quite possibly the greatest offensive season of this generation, people had high hopes for him going into the postseason. However, he has struggled mightily so far this series, as he went 0-5 with four strikeouts.
Despite shocking the world with an incredible regular season performance, fans in the Bronx felt the need to “boo” him after his disappointing game.
I gotta play better. That’s what it comes down to. Didn’t do the job tonight.
Judge offers comments on his game 2 performance at Yankee Stadium
After many runners being left on base, and many different pitchers toeing the rubber, the game finally ended in the 10th inning after go-ahead hits by Guardians, Oscar Gonzalez and Josh Naylor. After four hours and ten minutes of play, the series was tied at one game apiece.
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Featured image courtesy of Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Video clip courtesy of MLB.com
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