The San Diego Padres are in a tight race with the Los Angeles Dodgers for the NL West pennant. They’ve had multiple chances to take control of the division, but have yet to capitalize. Friday night presented another opportunity to cut the Dodgers’ lead to just one game — but Nestor Cortes didn’t deliver the outing the Padres needed.
“Nestor Cortes didn’t have great command of his pitches on Friday night, and it cost him and the Padres. He did have good command of his emotions, but that didn’t work out too well for him, either,” MLB.com’s Patrick Donnelly wrote. “Five Minnesota hitters reached base in the first three innings, though Cortes was able to limit the damage to one run. But things got away from him in the fourth, when the Twins scored four times to take a 5-2 lead, with two of the runs charged to Cortes.”
It was Cortes’ shortest outing of the season — a tough blow for San Diego at a critical moment.
“This season, Cortes has pitched 21 innings for the Padres, yielding a 3.00 ERA, as of Friday’s game. His starts have averaged more than five innings each, giving the team some relief to the bullpen,” SI’s Nelson Espinal wrote.
Things got even more chaotic when Padres manager Mike Shildt began walking to the mound to pull Cortes — only to watch him get ejected. Frustrated, Cortes was tossed from the game. While it may have seemed like a meltdown, the ejection turned out to be strategically helpful, giving reliever Wandy Peralta time to warm up fully.
“Nestor Cortes just pulled the oldest trick in the book: got himself tossed on purpose so Wandy Peralta could get more time to warm up,” Talkin’ Twins posted.
Nestor Cortes just pulled the oldest trick in the book: got himself tossed on purpose so Wandy Peralta could get more time to warm up.#ForTheFaithful | #MNTwins pic.twitter.com/9rfTaF91EL
— Talkin’ Twins (@TalkinTwins) August 30, 2025
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This was a prime opportunity for the Padres to close the gap in the standings, but the game didn’t go their way. Cortes’ ejection — intentional or not — may have helped Peralta, but it didn’t help the team escape with a win. With just one month left in the regular season, the Padres will need major contributions from Cortes moving forward if they want to overtake the Dodgers.
