Nestor Cortes’ struggles continue in soggy Yankees loss to Angels

As hot as the Yankees were coming into their series against the Angels, it was more than just rain showers that cooled them off.

Nothing can halt momentum quite like poor pitching.

The Yankees got more of that Thursday as Nestor Cortes turned in his latest rough start in a 9-4 loss to the Angels on a miserable, wet night in The Bronx.

After Will Warren got rocked for an 8-2 loss in the nightcap of Wednesday’s doubleheader, Cortes did not make it out of a six-run fifth inning Thursday as the Yankees (68-48) dropped the series after winning three straight.

To make matters worse, Anthony Volpe exited the game in the eighth inning with “left foot pain” after fouling a ball off it in the second inning.

He was being evaluated by the Yankees’ team physician as the final two innings played out.

The Angels (51-64) beat up Cortes for six runs on nine hits and a walk across 4 ²/₃ innings.

The left-hander had looked better his last time out, when he tossed 5 ¹/₃ innings of three-run ball against the Phillies last Wednesday, but he took a step back against the Angels.

Cortes now owns a 9.26 ERA over his last five starts, giving up 24 runs across 23 ¹/₃ innings while not making it through five innings in four of those games.

While the conditions — a steady mist with sporadic heavier showers — did Cortes no favors, they didn’t seem to bother Angels left-hander Tyler Anderson, who kept the Yankees in check across six strong innings in which he gave up just one run (a Jazz Chisholm Jr. home run) and three hits.

The only saving grace on the night for the Yankees was the Orioles also losing to the Blue Jays, keeping them tied atop the AL East.

Cortes entered the fifth inning trying to keep it to a 2-1 deficit and got some help from Aaron Judge on a diving catch for the first out before the game got out of hand.

After No. 9 hitter Michael Stefanic battled Cortes for a 10-pitch at-bat that resulted in a single, Cortes got the second out.

But Zach Neto, who had a field day in the doubleheader, followed with a double as the skies began to open up and the rain intensified.

Long Island’s Logan O’Hoppe then walked to load the bases before Kevin Pillar blooped a two-run single into shallow right field to put the Angels up 4-1 and end Cortes’ night.

Enyel De Los Santos entered and walked Anthony Rendon to reload the bases, which got cleared when Jo Adell hit a sinking liner to right field that went just under the glove of a diving Juan Soto.

The ball trickled past Soto and allowed all three runs to score for the 7-1 lead.

Mickey Moniak capped off the rally with an RBI single that made it 8-1.

Cortes’ night had started in inauspicious fashion when his fourth pitch ended up in the right field seats as Nolan Schanuel took him deep to lead off the game.