CHICAGO — Nestor Cortez’s season got a much-needed boost in Chicago.
The left-hander, who had a 7.67 ERA in his six starts, delivered the performance he and the Yankees desperately needed.
Cortes pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine batters (tying his season high), walking no batters and allowing just three hits in 104 pitches.
“Welsh is [Austin Wells] “I called a great game,” Cortes said after the Yankees’ 4-1 win over the White Sox. “The game plan we discussed before the game was really good. We got good at-bats on both sides of the ball.”
In the broader context of the Yankees’ pitching accomplishments, Cortes became the team’s first starting pitcher to complete six innings since Carlos Rodon on July 28, 14 games ago.
“I liked the way he threw the ball,” manager Aaron Boone said. “His changeup was really good tonight. He gave his fastball some life. He was throwing his cutter where he wanted it. He was efficient.”
More specifically, it was Cortes’ first scoreless game since June 18 against the Orioles.
“Except for the Philadelphia game, going four or five innings in a row seemed like a bad start to me, but I felt like I was off after one inning, one pitch, one at-bat,” Cortes said. “I couldn’t make it five innings. There have been a lot of times where I’ve gone four innings.”
Cortes’ masterful outing marked the first time a Yankees starter has pitched seven scoreless innings since he did so on May 17, also against the White Sox.
On Tuesday, starting pitchers used sweepers more often (21% of pitches) than their season average of 15.6% and it proved to be highly effective.
According to Baseball Savant, Cortes induced seven swings at the pitch and had a strike-and-whisk rate of 41%.
Similarly, Cortes threw the cutter just 20% of the time, down 8.9% from the rate of other 2024 starters.
“I thought it was just a feel thing,” Cortes said. “I told Welsh today, ‘I’m going to mix up all my pitches.’ He used his changeup and sweeper a lot today. I used them a few times and I said, ‘I’m going to keep using them until hitters hit them.'”
The starter’s appearance on the mound was monumental for a Yankees relief corps that has struggled after struggling in recent days.
Luis Gil pitched just four innings in Monday’s game at Chicago.
Marcus Stroman pitched just five innings against the Rangers on Sunday.
And in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, Gerrit Cole only got one out in the sixth inning.
In those three games alone, eight Yankees relief pitchers threw 18 or more pitches in a game, and the bullpen as a whole allowed a whopping 20 earned runs in 11 2/3 innings for a 15.43 ERA.
“I’ve noticed over the last week or so that I’ve been fighting a lot of fights,” Cortez said, “and no matter how short the last fight was, you want to fight as long as possible every time.”
Despite Cortez providing length, coach Aaron Boone had to use Mark Reiter Jr., Tommy Kahnle and Jake Cousins, and Cousins closed out the 4-1 victory with his first career save.
With the Yankees set to start rookie Will Warren on Wednesday, Boone can feel pretty comfortable about the trajectory of one of his rotation regulars.
“I felt like something went right today,” Cortez said. “Hopefully I can continue what I did today in the next game and keep going.”
