Yankees fall to Rays as Nestor Cortes is hit hard early

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Two runs were enough for the Yankees on Friday night because of Clarke Schmidt’s brilliance and the effectiveness of three relievers.

They matched that total Saturday afternoon, but with a vastly different result.

With Nestor Cortes not sharp early and reliever Dennis Santana not at his best late, it added up to a 7-2 loss to the Rays in front of an overwhelmingly pro-Yankees crowd of 21,308 at Tropicana Field.

“I had a really hard time not only up in the zone but anywhere in the zone,” Cortes said. “I felt like I was missing up and away a lot.”

It resulted in the Rays barreling up plenty of baseballs during a 5 1/3-inning outing in which Cortes allowed four runs, five hits and three walks. The lefthander, coming off a solid start against the Tigers in which he allowed two runs and three hits in 6 1/3 innings, gave up two home runs.

The second of those, a three-run shot by Randy Arozarena in the third inning, wiped out the 2-1 lead provided by Anthony Volpe’s two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the second. Yandy Diaz’s homer on Cortes’ first pitch of the day gave the Rays (20-20) a 1-0 lead.The Yankees (26-15) were outhit 8-5.

“I think it [was] a little bit with mechanics, my delivery,” Cortes said. “Something I was able to fix after that third inning. I was able to dial in more and I felt like I had more behind my fastball.”

Santana, who brought a 3.24 ERA into the day, allowed back-to-back RBI doubles by Diaz and Arozarena in the seventh to make it 6-2. Isaac Paredes' sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 7-2.

Rays righthander Zack Littell, who came in 1-2 with a 3.00 ERA, allowed two runs, four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings.

After Littell hit Aaron Judge in the left elbow area in the top of the first — but allowed nothing else in the inning — the Rays jumped on Cortes in the bottom half. Swinging at a first-pitch, 90-mph fastball, Diaz continued his career trend of hitting Yankees pitching, crushing one to left for his second homer of the season.

“Just struggled with his fastball command and really getting it to that top rail,” Aaron Boone said.

When Cortes is at his best, it's typically because of his ability to utilize his fastball in the upper part of the strike zone.

“I thought he kind of righted the ship a little bit and got it going in the middle of the game, but just early on, it just seemed he had a hard time getting that fastball to the top rail like he normally does so well,” Boone said. “A lot of pitches I think he just shot up there that were just getting away from him a little bit.”

The first of Volpe’s three hits gave the Yankees the 2-1 lead in the second, but Trent Grisham, who had walked to load the bases, made the third out as he got caught in a rundown between second and third. Not ideal with Juan Soto due up next.

“Just a mistake,” Boone said. “I don’t think he saw the ball well off the bat.”

Trailing 4-2 in the top of the seventh, the Yankees put two on with two outs and Soto, 0-for-3 to that point, put a charge into a 0-and-1 changeup from righthander Jason Adam. He just missed,  flying to the track in center.

Tropicana Field isn’t known as a ballpark with a lot of carry, especially to the gaps and to center. After watching Judge's long fly die at the track Friday night, it didn’t come as a surprise to the dugout when Soto’s did the same.

As for Cortes, who fell to 1-4 with a 4.02 ERA, he took issue with the strike zone of Ramon De Jesus a handful of times in his outing, even staring for a few seconds at the plate umpire after Boone removed him in the sixth.

“At times, it looks like our catchers do a really good job of trying to fake out the umpire trying to steal strikes,” Cortes said. “From my point of view, a couple strikes could have been called, but I don’t think that determined the whole game of mine. I just have to make better pitches and find that fastball a little earlier.”