Yankees' Nestor Cortes: 'I Had All the Confidence in the World' Before Freeman HR

Despite not pitching in a game since Sept. 18 due to an elbow injury, Nestor Cortes Jr. didn't feel overwhelmed by the moment before giving up a walk-off grand slam to Freddie Freeman in the Los Angeles Dodgers' 6-3 win over the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series.

Speaking to reporters after the game, Cortes said he "felt better than expected" physically and had "all the confidence in the world" before giving up the big blast to Freeman on the second pitch he threw.

Cortes wasn't on the Yankees' playoff roster for the ALDS or ALCS due to a flexor strain that landed him on the injured list on Sept. 25.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone said at the time he wasn't ruling out a return for Cortes at some point in the postseason, but they wanted to see how his elbow responded when he started throwing again.

"He's been throwing the ball so well and has put together a really good year," Boone said. "We certainly feel for him right now. We just have to pick up the slack and support him right now, and then see what we have over the next several days."

Knowing how impactful the Dodgers lineup can be, Boone opted to go with more pitching on the World Series roster by adding Cortes in place of veteran utilityman Jon Berti.

Cortes spoke about the risk of potential long-term injury by coming back, but made it clear the value of winning a World Series would outweigh any of those concerns.

"The conversations have been really clear throughout the whole postseason," Cortes said on Tuesday before the World Series roster was set. "We have weighed the consequences that this can lead up to, but if I have a ring and then a year off of baseball, then so be it."

Boone called on Cortes for the lefty-lefty matchups at the top of the Dodgers lineup. He got Shohei Ohtani out on a fly out in foul territory thanks to a great play by Alex Verdugo, who fell into the first row of seats down the left field line at Dodger Stadium.

After intentionally walking the right-handed hitting Mookie Betts, despite having two outs with runners on first and second, Cortes' first pitch to Freeman was crushed 409 feet into the right-field seats.

The idea of the lefty-lefty matchup was sound on paper. Freeman's OPS during the regular season was 246 points lower against lefties (.759) than righties (.905). Cortes held left-handed hitters to a .530 OPS with just two homers in 153 plate appearances.

But asking a pitcher, who has only made one relief appearance since the start of the 2022 season, to get an out in this spot against one of the best hitters in baseball proved to be too much.

Cortes' confidence will allow him to put this loss in the rear-view mirror quickly, but Boone didn't do his pitcher any favors by putting him in that spot in the first place.

Now, the pressure is amplified for the Yankees as they look to salvage a split in Los Angeles in Game 2 on Saturday night before the series heads to the Bronx for three games.