CORTES FLIRTS WITH HISTORY
Yankees 1, Rangers 0
Nestor Cortes may be the least heralded top starting pitcher in the major leagues.
The New York Yankees left-hander was five outs from a no-hitter when he threw his 103rd pitch, and Texas Rangers No. 9 hitter Eli White looped a single into short center field. The 27year-old Cortes, a regular starter in the major leagues since only last July, rocked back twice slightly and grinned with disappointment and satisfaction.
“When the emotions and the adrenaline is rushing, everything feels great,” he said. “But now I feel like I got hit by a truck.”
Cortes, Clay Holmes and Aroldis Chapman combined on a two-hitter, Anthony Rizzo doubled in a run in the eighth and the Yankees beat the Texas Rangers 1-0 on Monday for their sixth straight series win.
Cortes is 1-1 with a 1.41 ERA, among the top five in the major leagues and a big reason New York is an ALbest 20-8. He has 42 strikeouts and 11 walks in 32 innings, holding hitters to a .177 average.
A 36th-round draft pick by the Yankees in 2013, Cortes was taken by Baltimore in the 2017 winter meeting draft, made his debut at the start of the following season and was returned to the Yankees that April. He spent the rest of the year in the minors, shuttled back and forth in 2019, then was dealt to Seattle. He was released after a 15.26 ERA in five games with the Mariners in 2020 and resigned by the Yankees.
“The three years, ’18, ’19 and ’20 were pretty rough on me,” Cortes said.
Cortes focused on fastballs and cutters, improved his conditioning, boosted his average fastball velocity by 2 mph and joined the Yankees rotation at midseason.
“The game’s littered with people that weren’t always the high pick or the top prospect,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “He’s persevered. He’s experienced everything. He’s had to fight for everything.”
New York has won 13 of its past 15 games, taking two of three in the series despite scoring just five runs.
Notable
The Reds placed infielder Mike Moustakas on the injured list without designation, the latest Cincinnati player apparently sidelined by COVID-19 issues on the last-place club. Moustakas became the 14th player on the Reds’ injured list.
• Major League Baseball intends to play regular-season games in London in 2023, 2024 and 2026. The New York Yankees swept two games against the Boston Red Sox at London’s Olympic Stadium in June 2019. The St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs were scheduled to play there in June 2020, but those games were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
• Dodgers left fielder Chris Taylor left Monday’s game at Pittsburgh in the sixth inning with a left knee bone bruise, sustained when he fouled a ball off the knee.