If a disgruntled Nestor Cortes pitches like that, the Yankees will accept it.
Even if it turns out to be only temporary, Cortes wasn't too happy about the Yankees moving him to the bullpen for one inning of the rotation.
Still, in his first relief appearance since 2021, the left-hander pitched his best game of the season on Saturday, holding the Cubs to no hits over 4 1/3 innings in a 2-0 victory at Wrigley Field.
“Obviously, I was upset,” Cortez said honestly after the game. “I felt like I was the go-to guy here in the starting lineup. After Cole went down, [in spring training]So they picked me to be the opening pitcher — not necessarily the No. 1 pitcher, but the opening pitcher — and I had to change my routine.
“Now, they do these things, but I'm never going to run away from a challenge. I'm never going to leave my teammates behind. Whether I'm happy or not, I'm always going to give my best, and that's what I did today. I went out there and proved that I can be myself in any situation. If that's my role going forward, then I'm going to accept it.”
With Luis Gil (Friday) and Clark Schmidt (Saturday) due to return from the disabled list this weekend, the Yankees decided to move Cortes to the bullpen for this inning to work alongside Schmidt.
The Yankees said they plan to return Cortez to the rotation for this week's series against the Red Sox, which begins Thursday in the Bronx, where they will use a six-man rotation once, but then are expected to cut back to five starters for the final two weeks of the regular season.
“I don't know [how it’s going to play out]”This was a surprise, so we'll see how it goes,” said Cortes, who entered Saturday with a 4.08 ERA in 28 starts and a team-high 159 innings. “I've heard I'll start against Boston, but then they'll have a six-man rotation with rest days in between, so guys will get extra minutes, and I don't feel like that's necessarily the right move, so we'll see how it goes.”
Cortes was dominant in his relief appearance on Saturday, but it's unclear whether that will help or hurt his case.
Like Schmidt, he has experience pitching out of the bullpen and looked comfortable against the Cubs.
“That's a sign of professionalism,” manager Aaron Boone said. “He wasn't happy with the turnaround, but there was still work to be done and he went out there and excelled.”
Instead of using another reliever to get Schmidt out of a jam in the fifth and give Cortes a scoreless inning, Boone used the left-hander with one and two outs in a 1-0 game.
Cortez came in and got Christian Bethancourt to pop out to end the jam.
Boone then brought in Luke Weaver in the ninth inning with the hopes of getting a save, but went with Cortes, who easily got through the ninth inning with a 1-2-3 outing.
He faced 14 batters overall, retired 13 and only walked one base runner.
“It felt a little weird at first, especially being there with Clark with two outs in the fifth inning,” Cortez said. “I was already warmed up and ready to get on base. They gave me 70. [pitches for Schmidt]maybe a hitter will join in too. So it was kind of hard to judge. Of course, I didn't want to get fully warmed up and then finish the innings.
“So that was a little tough, but other than that, I've been through that before. Honestly, it felt good leaving that runner on third base. I felt like Clark played a really good game today and that was the least I could do for him.”
