LOS ANGELES (AP) — Nestor Cortes was so happy to reach the World Series, he was willing to sacrifice his elbow and perhaps millions of dollars. He wound up blowing a 10th-inning lead for the New York Yankees in Game 1. “It was right there on our fingertips,” Cortes lamented.
Freddie Freeman hit the first walk-off grand slam in Series history, a two-out drive off Cortes that lifted the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-3 victory on Friday night. “Walking in here, I didn’t feel sorry for myself at all. I felt more like, letting my team down," Cortes said.
Nicknamed Nasty Nestor and the Hialeah Kid, the 29-year-old left-hander stood at his locker stall for about a dozen minutes answering questions about his two-pitch outing, his first after a 37-day layoff. Cortes had been sidelined since Sept. 18 because of a flexor strain in his pitching elbow.
He missed the AL Division Series and League Championship Series but healed enough to be added to the active roster seven hours before gametime. He had felt more nervous watching the earlier rounds of the postseason than pitching in the World Series. “You have no control over what’s happening in the game and at that moment I had control of what I was doing,” he said.
A 2022 All-Star eligible for free agency after the 2025 season, Cortes was willing to risk a long-term injury for the chance to pitch on baseball's grandest stage. “If I have a ring and then a year off of baseball, then so be it,” he said Tuesday. New York took .