With two on and one out in the bottom of the 10th inning, Aaron Boone gave the ball to Nestor Cortes for his first game action in over a month.
The task? Retire Shohei Ohtani and get two outs to get the Yankees a critical 3-2 win in game one of the World Series.
Cortes, pitching in his first game since Sept. 18, took care of the daunting first task on one pitch, forcing the superstar Ohtani to foul out, but after intentionally walking Mookie Betts to load the bases for another lefty in Freddie Freeman, disaster stuck, as Freeman crushed a first-pitch fastball into the right field seats for a walk-off grand slam.
In an instant, the Yankees went from the cusp of a huge series-opening win to a devastating loss that will have less than 24 hours to recover from before a critical game two.
Boone also had the lefty Tim Hill warming in the bullpen, perhaps a less rusty option who had gotten the job done in the playoffs so far. But Boone liked Cortes against Ohtani more than Hill in that spot.
“Just liked the matchup. Reality is, he’s been throwing the ball really well the last few weeks as he’s gotten ready for this,” Boone said. “I knew with one out there, it would be tough to double up Shohei if Tim Hill gets him on the ground, and Mookie behind him is a tough matchup. Felt convicted with Nestor in that spot.
“I don’t know if you ever love a matchup against Ohtani, but felt like Nestor could give us a shot at it.”
Ohtani was batting 2-for-12 in his career against Cortes, and Cortes did the job against the Dodgers’ most dangerous hitter. But Freeman is a star in his own right, and he demolished a mistake fastball to give LA a thrilling victory.
Despite the mistake pitch by Cortes, Boone felt the decision to put Betts on and get another lefty-lefty matchup was the clear decision to make. Cortes simply failed to execute one more pitch.
“Just taking the left-on-left matchup there,” Boone said. “No, I didn't deliberate long.”