Aaron Boone turned to Nestor Cortes with a one-run lead and the top of the Dodgers’ order on deck in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 1 of the 120th World Series.
Cortes induced a flyout off Shohei Ohtani’s bat with one pitch. Then, New York intentionally walked the red-hot Mookie Betts to load the bases so Cortes could face Freddie Freeman, who’s played through an ankle injury in the past few weeks. But Cortes hadn’t pitched for a month due to a flexor strain in his throwing elbow, and his rustiness showed soon enough.
He hung a fastball on the first pitch, and Freeman capitalized. The sea of fans at Dodger Stadium rose as the ball soared out of the park, and Los Angeles celebrated its 6-3 Game 1 win. The Yankees were just one out from victory, and they may have secured it if a different pitcher entered the game to face the fearsome top of the Dodgers’ order.
Boston Red Sox fans may remember another instance of New York losing after being just one out from a win. On July 5, in a two-run game, the Yankees turned to the then-struggling Clay Holmes to shut the Sox down. Holmes collected ground outs of Rafael Devers and Connor Wong before Dominic Smith singled to get something going for Boston.
Red Sox fans remember controversial Aaron Boone pitching decisions after Yankees World Series Game 1 loss
Masataka Yoshida followed and drilled a two-out, two-strike, game-tying homer to send the game to extra innings. The Red Sox won, 5-3, on another blast from Ceddanne Rafaela in the 10th frame.
Both Devers and Wong worked to three-ball counts against Holmes, and his 13 blown saves led MLB in the 2024 season. Boone and the Yankees could’ve pulled their struggling closer before Yoshida came up to the plate in a game-tying situation, but they didn’t make the move. Holmes allowed 10 runs in 20.1 innings from June to July, and it took New York a few additional weeks to decide to move him from its closer slot.
It was a strange choice to turn to Cortes against Ohtani, Betts and Freeman. Not only was Cortes out of commission for a month before his appearance, but Freeman has an outstanding success rate against lefty pitchers with the bases loaded.
There could be up to six more games remaining in the World Series and the Yankees may have been trying to conserve their bullpen resources, but Cortes was unprepared to face the heart of the Dodgers’ order at that moment. Tim Hill is a lefty, but he’s only allowed one run over seven postseason appearances — his track record of success in the playoffs should’ve been enough for the Yankees to use him with a one-run lead.
