On Saturday afternoon, Nestor Cortes gave up a fifth-inning home run to Cleveland Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor. If you missed the last couple seasons of Yankee baseball and had just tuned in for this at-bat, you’d be forgiven for assuming that this was an unsurprising outcome. Cortes’ first pitch to Naylor was an 87 mph four-seamer. The slider Naylor took deep was at the knees, but just 77 mph, and got enough plate for Naylor to get around on it and send it far. An ace, Cortes appears not.
But Naylor’s long fly was the first and only hit Cortes would allow against Cleveland.