All-Star ballots were revealed and opened for voting on Wednesday, and Nestor Cortes Jr. is widely regarded as a prime candidate to be the American League’s starting pitcher.
But hours later, Cortes turned in his first dud of what has been an improbable breakout season.
Coming into the night with a league-leading 1.50 ERA, Cortes shut down the Twins for three innings before things began to unravel in the fourth, and when it was over, the lefty had allowed a season-high four runs on seven hits through 4.1 innings of work, striking out just three while allowing two home runs.
“At the end of the day, It's my 11th start of the season,” Cortes said. “Obviously, there's gonna be ups and downs. It's just whether you come back the next time and weather the storm.”
Cortes’ rare clunker inflated his season ERA to a still-remarkable 1.96, and the former 36th round pick turned staff ace looked the part to start, but sometimes, even the best don’t have it for a full outing.
“I felt pretty good the first three innings,” Cortes said. “I was commanding all my pitches…there was a few that got away from me in the fourth and fifth innings I wish I could get back.”
Cortes’ rough night likely won’t sound any alarms. He already has proof of commanding elite lineups, having allowed just two runs over 8.1 innings of work against the Blue Jays this season and had shut out Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout, and the Angels over seven innings in his last start before Wednesday night. But the Twins brought a different challenge, and in rare fashion, Cortes wasn’t able to meet it.
“They’re a good hitting team,” Cortes said. “They made me battle all night...I think they fouled off a lot of pitches and wasted a lot of pitches.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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