Cortes is willing to sacrifice his elbow to throw in the World Series, giving up the game-winning grand slam

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nestor Cortes was so happy to reach the World Series that he was willing to sacrifice his elbow and perhaps millions of dollars.

In the first game, he finally blew the New York Yankees' lead in the 10th inning.

“We had it right at hand,” Cortes lamented.

Freddie Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history, a two-out drive against Cortes that gave the Los Angeles Dodgers a 6-3 victory on Friday night.

“When I came in here I had no self-pity at all. I felt more like I was letting my team down,” Cortes said.

The 29-year-old left-hander nicknamed “Nasty Nestor and the Hialeah Kid” stood at his locker room for about a dozen minutes, answering questions about his two-pitch outing, his first after a 37-day layoff.

Cortes has been sidelined since September 18th due to a strain in his pitching elbow. He missed the AL Division Series and the League Championship Series, but recovered enough to be activated to the active roster seven hours before game time. He had been more nervous watching the early rounds of the postseason than he had been pitching in the World Series.

“You have no control over what happens in the game and in that moment I was in control of what I was doing,” he said.

Cortes, a 2022 All-Star who was eligible for free agency after the 2025 season, was willing to risk a long-term injury to play on baseball's biggest stage.

“If I have a ring and then a year off from baseball, then so be it,” he said Tuesday.

New York took a 3-2 lead on Anthony Volpe's RBI grounder in the 10th, and Cortes warmed up in the bullpen alongside fellow left-hander Tim Hill.

Jake Cousins ​​walked Gavin Lux with one out in the bottom half and Tommy Edman hit a single under the glove of diving second baseman Oswaldo Cabrera, bringing in Shohei Ohtani.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone signaled Cortes by raising his arm – if he had extended his hand low, that would have been a signal to the side-armed Hill.

“The adrenaline rush is incredible,” Cortes said.

He launched Ohtani with a 92.4 mph fastball, top-center and inside. The likely NL MVP picked off an opponent's foul down the left field line, which Alex Verdugo caught on the run just before it hit the low retaining wall and plunged headlong into the stands, allowing the runners to move up as it was one dead ball.

Mookie Betts was intentionally left out and brought up Freeman.

“I’m just taking the left-on-left duel there,” Boone said.

Cortes knew there was still a great way out.

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

He threw a 92.5 mph fastball that Freeman drove 409 feet into the right-field pavilion, a surefire hit that sent the crowd of 52,394 soaring that the stadium shook. Cortes had aimed for the pitch 2 to 3 inches higher.

“I thought it reached the inner part of the record where I wanted it, but it didn't quite come up high enough,” he said. “At first glance it looked OK, but it just wasn’t high enough.”

Cortes turned around, craned his neck slightly, leaned forward, and turned his head towards the base's first shelter in disbelief.

“If I make my pitch there, of course it’s a different result,” he said. “Didn’t stay on the field long enough to think about it or see him run the bases. I just came in, turned the page and then started training. Ready for tomorrow.”

Some relatives and friends had tried to convince him not to come back this year to prioritize his elbow.

“This is what your dream is made of. You grow up playing baseball, watching baseball and living for October, and now here we are,” Cortes said. “A lot of people obviously reached out to me and gave me some advice – I wouldn't say don't do it, but they gave me some advice about what the pros and cons could have been to the situation. But at the end of the day, it’s my career, it’s my decision, and I thought this was the best thing for me.”

He recalled the last walk-off home run he allowed to Rochester's Luis García Jr. while pitching for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on May 20, 2021.

“You don’t forget that,” Cortes said.

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