Cortes (3-2) took the loss Sunday against the Rangers after allowing seven runs on five hits and four walks while striking out seven.
Cortes was punished by the long ball and a lack of command in this one while needing 100 pitches to get through 4.2 innings. The southpaw retired Marcus Semien to kick things off but then issued consecutive walks and a single to load the bases for Josh Jung, who capitalized with a grand slam to right. Cortes settled down from there, retiring 12 of the next 14 hitters before running into some more problems in the fifth. The 28-year-old gave up another walk and proceeded to give up back-to-back home runs to Nathaniel Lowe and Adolis Garcia to put the Yanks in a 7-1 hole. All-around it was an uncharacteristic outing for Cortes, who had not given up more than four runs in any of his prior 33 starts dating back to the start of the 2022 campaign. He now holds a 4.91 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 35:9 K:BB over 33 innings and lines up to face the Rays next weekend.