New York Yankees’ pitcher Nestor Cortes Jr. was on a roll yesterday, but it still could not save his team from defeat.

In the third game of a three-game set down at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Cortes shined, pitching a shutout through over five innings. He struck out 12 batters, while only allowing three hits and one walk, with no runs. He is the first Yankees pitcher to fan 12 or more batters in five innings or less.

In the fourth inning of the game, Cortes pitched only the 106th immaculate inning in Major League Baseball history. An immaculate inning occurs when a pitcher retires all three batters in an inning on nine pitches, three pitches for each batter. And Nestor’s stellar performance yesterday allowed him to accomplish just this.

NASTY NESTOR. IMMACULATE INNING. pic.twitter.com/vPL26Gi8vt

— MLB (@MLB) April 17, 2022

First up was Anthony Santander, whom Cortes retired on a called strike, a foul ball and a foul tip into the glove of catcher Kyle Higashioka. Then, Ryan McKenna went down on three strikes, and the same with Robinson Chirinos. Nine pitches, three outs.

Following the inning, Higashioka unknowingly chucked the ball into the stands, but Yankees’ ace pitcher Gerrit Cole got the memorabilia back for Cortes, with a bit of bargaining.

“It’s fun to be out there every single time,” Cortes said. “When you’re on a roll like that, it makes it just a little sweeter. It’s unfortunate we didn’t come out with the ‘W’ today, but it is what it is.” 

Higgy nooooooooo! 😂

Nestor Cortes gets his immaculate inning ball back after an assist from Gerrit Cole.#YANKSonYES pic.twitter.com/JkEIqlFGmK

— YES Network (@YESNetwork) April 17, 2022

Despite the valiant effort, however, the Yankees still went on to lose the game, 5-0. After Chad Green took over for Cortes in the sixth, the Orioles still remained scoreless until the bottom of the 8th inning, when they scored five runs, including four off of Yankees’ reliever Jonathan Loáisiga.

The Yankees failed to score any runs against the lowly Orioles, who are expected to lose over 100 games yet again this season, and dropped the series to them 2-1. The game marks the first time the Yankees were shut out by the Orioles in almost six years, with the last time it occurred being way back on September 3, 2016.

What did you think of Nestor Cortes Jr.’s stellar outing, including his immaculate inning? Let us know, by either leaving a reaction below or by sending us a tweet at @celebsecrets.

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