Cortes 7 Shutout Innings; Soto 3 HR’s Propel Yanks. NY 4 ChiSox 1

August 14, 2024 paperbacklou 2024 0
Juan Soto hits his 3rd homer of the game -- a 406-foot BOMB to right center.

Nestor Cortes was NASTY — pitching 7 innings of 3-hit, shutout ball, striking out 9 and walking nobody — and Juan Soto hit 3 (three) homeruns to provide all Yankee runs and propel NY to a 4-1 win over the White Sox in Chicago on a Tuesday night.

Still the game came down to topsy-turvy nail biting in the final 2 innings — as:

  • Mark Leiter Jr.had to be bailed out of the bottom of the 8th by Tommy Kahnle — Leiter allowing a run and leaving runners on 1st and 3rd before Kahnle got the final out;
  • The Yanks then loaded the bases in the top of the 9th with 1 out but didn’t score as Austin Wells lined out into a doubleplay; and then
  • Kahnle needed to be bailed out in the bottom of the 9th, as he allowed a walk and double to start the inning.
  • Jake Cousins came in and got a strikeout but then walked a batter — so it was bases loaded, 1 out — before Cousins got a fly out and strike out to finally end it. PHEW. It was NFL Star Kirk Cousins’ cousin Jake Cousins first MLB save.

“I thought Wellsy called a great game,” said Nestor afterwards. “The game plan that we talked about before the game was really good; I felt really comfortable with it. I was able to locate both sides of the plate. I thought I got a couple more strikeouts with the changeups. But overall it looked like they were guessing the whole time; when I went in they weren’t expecting in; when I went away they weren’t expecting away; so that really helped.”

NY improves to 71-50 and vaults into 1st place by themselves, .5 ahead of Baltimore, who lost. The White Sox fall to 29-92.

1. Nestor Nasty

Nestor Cortes turned in his best performance of the year. He has been pitching fairly well despite the overall results, but in this game, his fastball seemed a few ticks faster, and he was working the zone like a master.

Nestor goes to 6-10 4.20.

2. Soto BOMB #1 Makes It 2-0 in 3rd

The White Sox threw 23-year-old, 6’6 righthander Jonathan Cannon at the Yanks, and he kept the Yanks off the board in the first 2 innings, scattering a single in each inning. But in the top of the 3rd, Anthony Volpe led off with a walk, and an out later Juan Soto hit a 360-foot homer to opposite-field left for a 2-0 NY lead.

3. Soto BOMB #2 Makes It 3-0 in 5th

Cannon worked around a hit and a walk in the 4th, but in the 5th, Juan Soto got him again — hitting a 416-foot BOMB to left center for a 3-0 NY lead.

4. Soto BOMB #3 Makes It 4-0 in 7th

Fraser Ellard relieved Cannon to get the last out of the 5th, and pitched a shutout 6th, but Soto got to him in the 7th with a 406-foot BOMB to right center for a 4-0 Yankee lead.

5. Kahnle & LeMahieu Bail Out Leiter in 8th

Mark Leiter Jr.came in to pitch the 8th. Leiter had been ripped his last outing on Sunday for 2 homers — and in between the other reliever the Yanks picked up at the trade deadline — Enyel De Los Santos — got ripped to high heaven (7 runs in just over an inning) on Monday.

Leiter got the first out, walked a batter, then got another out — so with 2 outs all looked ok.

But then he walked 3rd baseman Lenyn Sosa and allowed a Ripping RBI single to Luis Robert Jr. and here we go again. NY 4 ChiSox 1 with runners on 1st and 3rd. Talk on Yankee Twitter turned to the 2 relievers GM Brian Cashman had picked up at the trade deadline, with a lot of anger projected.

But Tommy Kahnle came in and got Andrew Benintendi to ground out to 1st — a terrific play by DJ LeMahieu to end the inning.

6. Yanks Load Bases, Don’t Score in 9th

Jared Shuster pitched the top of the 9th for Chicago. He allowed a 1-out single to Alex Verdugo, then pitched around Juan Soto — not giving him anything close to the strike zone as Soto, perched on a possible 4-homer game, walked instead. Shuster then walked Aaron Judge to load the bases with 1 out.

But Austin Wells ripped a liner to 2nd and Soto was doubled off for a double play.

7. Cousins Bails Out Kahnle in 9th

To the 9th, with NY up 4-1.

Kahnle walked the first batter Andrew Vaughn, and then allowed a double to Gavin Sheets — who absolutely killed NY the night before with 4 hits.

With 2nd and 3rd, nobody out, and the tying run at the plate, Boone brought in Jake Cousins — as Clay Holmes had thrown 35 pitches the night before. Boone later said he was poised to bring in Holmes if Cousins got into more trouble.

Cousins struck out Korey Lee for the 1st out, then walked Miguel Vargas to load the bases.

Nail Biter.

But Cousins got 2nd baseman Nicky Lopez to hit an easy fly to Judge in center (Judge rifling a strike to home as the runner stayed at 3rd), and struck out Brooks Baldwin for the old ballgame.

Etcetera

  • Juan Soto owned the night offensively with the 3 HR’s — but Aaron Judge also ripped it up, going 2-3 with 2 walks. Judge hit a shot to the bottom of the left-field wall in the 7th — it one-bounced the wall for only a single it was hit so hard.
  • Judge is now slashing 42-107-.332 (.466 OBP, 1.165 OPS). Judge is 2nd in the AL in batting (behind Bobby Witt‘s .348), and leads in HR’s, RBI’s, OPS, Slugging, etc.
  • Juan Soto is now slashing 33-86-.306 (.434 OBP, 1.042 OPS).

The Boxscore

https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401570265

 

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*