Yankees’ Nestor Cortes wanted the ball. And all that came with it

LOS ANGELES – He had felt the lonely, humbling sensation before. It happened three years ago, on a Thursday night in May before 2,135 witnesses in Rochester, N.Y.  You better believe Nestor Cortes remembered the last time he’d walked off the field after somebody beat him with a home run.

“Of course – Luis García of the Nationals, in Triple A,” Cortes said Friday night, after millions more saw him do it again. “You don’t forget those.”

Cortes has come so far since then. Fourteen months after that dreary night in Rochester, Cortes was here at Dodger Stadium, the toast of the All-Star Game for the New York Yankees. He wore an earpiece and a microphone while pitching, swerving and swaying for the national audience. A 36th-round draft choice in his 10th pro season, Cortes had arrived.

On Friday, he returned to the Chavez Ravine mound in the 10th inning with the World Series opener on the line. His first pitch retired the great Shohei Ohtani. His second, to Freddie Freeman, became the first grand slam ever to end a World Series game in a 6-3 Los Angeles Dodgers victory.

It’s an unfamiliar feeling for Cortes. Shortly after that walk-off in Rochester, he left the bullpen behind. He’s made 70 starts in the last three seasons, with just one relief appearance. Yet there he was in Game 1, pitching in extra innings for the first time in his major-league career – and pitching in any inning for the first time in 37 days.

A left elbow flexor strain sidelined Cortes after his start in Seattle on Sept. 18. He was off the roster for the division series, and tried to talk his way on when an injury opened a spot during the ALCS. He wasn’t ready then, but he was strong on Friday.

“Felt better than expected, to be honest,” Cortes said. “Throwing in the bullpen, it was really encouraging before they called upon my name. And once I got in, I had all the confidence in the world.”

At a workout in New York before the World Series, Cortes had explained his mindset as he tried to build back his elbow. He would risk his health for a championship.

“We have weighed in the consequences that this can lead up to,” Cortes said then. “But if I have a ring and then a year off of baseball, so be it.”

#MLBNow discusses the potential of the Yankees having Nestor Cortes on their World Series roster, coming off an elbow injury that has sidelined him since September 18th. pic.twitter.com/ue5qYMGAJR

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It was a noble attitude that spoke well of Cortes’ competitiveness. He’s eligible for salary arbitration after the season and due a big raise from $3.95 million. Free agency awaits after 2025, and getting hurt in the World Series would limit his earning power. He wanted his teammates to know his priorities.

“I said it because of the guys in here, the 26, 28, 30 guys that have been here throughout the postseason and the coaching staff and the front office,” Cortes said Friday. “I mean, they showed an incredible amount of support for me when I went on the IL. And the main goal here is to win. If I wasn’t ready enough and I wasn’t healthy enough, I would not have done it and they would have not allowed me to.”

On Friday, with one out, two on and a one-run lead in the 10th, Aaron Boone picked Cortes over another lefty, Tim Hill, to face Ohtani. (The logic: Hill is a ground-ball specialist, and Ohtani could beat out a double play.) It was all set up for Ohtani, the sport’s ultimate showman, to pull off his greatest feat yet.

Every one of the 52,394 fans at Dodger Stadium thought the same thing. Cortes was well aware.

“I know everybody’s focused on Ohtani, Ohtani, Ohtani – and we get him out,” Cortes said. “But Freeman is also a really good hitter.”

Cortes threw a high, inside fastball at 92 mph to Ohtani, who sliced it down the left field line. Alex Verdugo snared it, tumbling into the left field stands. The runners advanced, Mookie Betts took an intentional walk, and up stepped Freeman.

The plan, Cortes explained, was to throw the same pitch he used on Ohtani. But he missed his target, he guessed, by two or three inches.

“I know (Freeman) was going to be aggressive,” Cortes said. “I wanted it to be higher for that reason. Just didn’t get it to the spot. Right off the hand it looked okay, but just didn’t get it high enough.”

And so Cortes walked off as Freeman trotted, tracing the same path to the first base dugout as Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley did in 1988, also in a World Series opener at Dodger Stadium, also at 8:37 p.m. Pacific time.

It’s true that Freeman wasn’t quite as limited as Kirk Gibson, who hobbled his way into World Series lore that time. And Cortes, of course, is not as accomplished as Eckersley.  So the elements didn’t line up precisely.

But going from winning to losing on a final-pitch World Series homer has happened just once since 1988, when Joe Carter touched ’em all off Mitch Williams to win the title for Toronto in 1993. All the other World Series walk-offs since then (Chad Curtis, Derek Jeter, Alex Gonzalez, Scott Podsednik, David Freese, Max Muncy and Adolis García) came with the score tied.

Teammates, naturally, supported Cortes after Freeman put him into the pantheon of October highlights. Aaron Judge said he still had faith in Cortes. Verdugo called Cortes a “big-time pitcher” he would bet on again. Giancarlo Stanton said Cortes had not thrown a bad pitch.

“He’s still gonna help us win it when he has an opportunity,” Stanton said. “So it’s not the end of him.”

Three years ago, Cortes was a lot closer to the end than he is now. He never could have expected, back in Rochester, to be pitching at the end of a Hollywood World Series. He savored the chance, knowing the risks. Pitching beats watching every time.

“It’s a little bit more nerve-wracking when you know you can’t do anything for the team and provide for the team and help them out in any way,” Cortes said, adding later, “I mean, you have no control over what’s happening in the game. And at that moment, I had control of what I was doing. Obviously, with the magnitude of the game, you’re going through the scenario and you want to make a good pitch. But I felt really comfortable out there.”

When Freeman changed that with one ferocious swing, Cortes didn’t linger. He retreated to the clubhouse, checked video of the homer, did his usual postgame workout. He felt like he let the team down, he said, but would not feel sorry for himself.

Cortes wanted the ball, and all that came with it.

“This is what the dream is made of,” he said. “You grow up playing baseball, watching baseball, living for October. And we’re here now.”

The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner contributed to this story

(Top photo of Nestor Cortes: Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)