Zac Gallen shut down the Yankees with 6 innings of 3-hit ball, and the Diamondback bullpen completed the job in sending NY to a 7-0 loss on a Tuesday night in Arizona — the Yanks first loss of the season after 5 wins.
Nestor Cortes allowed a double and 4 singles to the first 5 batters he faced, for a 3-0 Diamondback lead — but then settled down and pitched shutout ball for the 2nd thru 5th innings.
But Yankee relievers Victor Gonzalez and Jake Cousins allowed 2 runs each in the late innings, and the Yankees never scored any runs.
“I thought he settled in really well,” said manager Aaron Boone afterwards about Cortes. “I thought we had a couple of opportunities early where we made him throw a lot of pitches; we had a little bit of traffic there the first couple innings. But he was able to make the pitch when he needed to. He was cutting it well. Seemed like he was living around the edges. I thought he was sharp and as he got going I thought he settled in pretty well.”
NY falls to 5-1; defending NL champ Arizona improves to 4-2.
1. Nestor Roughed Up in 1st But Settles Down
It was the 2nd start of the season for Cortes and the second start where he got roughed up in the 1st inning then settled down.
Ketel Marte led off with a double, Blaze Alexander singled, and after a fly out by Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Cortes allowed singles to Christian Walker, Eugenio Suarez, and Gabriel Moreno for a 3-0 Arizona lead. Finally, Cortes got Jorge Barrosa to bunt into a double play to end the inning.
Cortes rebounded by retiring the side in order in the 2nd, pitching around a single and a walk in the 3rd, pitching around 2 singles in the 4th, and retiring the side in order in the 5th. He left after walking the first batter in the 6th.
“I just think he didn’t get pitches to spots where he wanted to so his cutter,” said manager Aaron Boone of Cortes’s 1st inning struggles in this game, “whether he’s back dooring it or trying to go in — just leaving a pitch more middle or on the side he wasn’t trying to go and they took advantage of every one of them. Credit to them of taking advantage of the few mistakes in that inning and hitting them hard.”
2. Gallen Shuts Yanks Out thru 6
Meanwhile, Zac Gallen, Arizona’s ace — shut the Yanks out on 3 hits through 6 innings. Gallen is coming off a career-best 17-9 3.47 and 3rd place finish in the NL Cy Young voting.
He uses a 92-MPH four-seam fastball intermixed with an 87-MPH changeup, 86-MPH slider, 92-MPH sinker, and occasional 80-MPH knuckle curve to get people out.
NY ended the night with only 3 hits — all off Gallen — one each by Juan Soto, Anthony Volpe, and Oswaldo Cabrera.
For Volpe it was his 4th straight game with a hit.
The 1st 4-hit game of AV's career 👊
Presented by @Delta pic.twitter.com/yhgY4f6iG0
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) April 2, 2024
3. Arizona Bullpen Finishes Job
The Diamondback bullpen of Scott McGough, Ryan Thompson, and Bryce Jarvis each pitched a no-hit, shutout inning for the old ballgame.
The Boxscore
https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401568547
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