SEATTLE — On a night that helped the Yankees punch their ticket to the postseason, Nestor Cortes continued to make his case for a spot in the playoff starting rotation.
The left-hander pitched six scoreless innings against the Mariners on Wednesday night at T-Mobile Park, leading them to a 2-1 victory in 10 innings.
“I'm just trying to do my role here and compete with the best players in the league,” Cortez said amid a raucous celebration of champagne and beer inside the visitors' clubhouse.
Cortes owns a 1.58 ERA over his last six games, including one extended relief appearance after the Yankees moved him to relief midway through the rotation.
Cortes has experience out of the bullpen in the past and could be a valuable member of the Yankees' bullpen staff in October, but he has also started playoff games, showing he's not intimidated by the big stage.
“Nester has done a great job for us this year,” Gerrit Cole said. “Whatever role we put him in, he caught the ball every time. He pitched well and gave us a chance to win every time he took the mound.”
Marcus Stroman is currently out of the bullpen in this turn of the starting rotation, but the Yankees will likely have to cut one or two more starters if they make the playoffs.
Wednesday's game marked Cortes' fourth scoreless game in his last seven games.
He limited the Mariners to just four hits (including a Justin Turner double that Jason Dominguez should have caught in center field) and three walks, while striking out six.
“I think he's pitching really well,” manager Aaron Boone said. “I think Nestor's had a really good year this year.”
Giancarlo Stanton did not play in a back-to-back game on Wednesday for the first time this season other than when he missed five weeks with a hamstring injury.
Stanton said he felt fine, but was benched for the second straight day as Aaron Judge again served as DH to maintain his health late in the game.
“I'm not going to make this about how I feel. [about not playing]”I'm OK either way,” Stanton said before the game.
Stanton said he was out of the lineup for Tuesday's game because he was facing tough right-hander Brian Woo.
He then sat out both Wednesday and Thursday (Thursday was a day game following a night game), and the Yankees decided Thursday (against right-hander Logan Gilbert) would be a better day to put him in the lineup.
The back-to-back days of rest could have something to do with Boone wanting to rest Judge again at this point in the season after regularly playing in a tough center field role.
“Judge is a good player, but those days are certainly valuable for him at this time of year, especially after the off days.” [Monday]”Obviously, we've relied on him and others and we want to keep that in mind during this time,” Boone said.
Boone indicated Stanton, who was just four hits in 34 at-bats with two doubles over his past 10 games, will be a consistent player back in the lineup for the remainder of the season.
After Clay Holmes gave up a game-tying home run to Justin Turner in the eighth inning, Luke Weaver came in and struck out four in 1 2/3 2/3 innings to send the game into extra innings. … The Yankees recorded a season-high 15 strikeouts.
