Nestor Cortes took a significant stride towards his return to the Yankees on Friday evening.
The talented left-hander delivered four scoreless innings for Double-A Somerset, surrendering just two hits and a walk while striking out five batters.
This marked Cortes’ second rehab start as he continues his recovery from a strained left rotator cuff.
In his previous outing on Sunday, the 28-year-old allowed one run and struck out four batters in 2 1/3 innings.
During Friday’s game, Cortes showcased his prowess by throwing 49 pitches, with 36 of them being strikes. He began the game strongly by striking out three of the first four hitters he faced.
The only true challenge he encountered came in the top of the second inning when Bowie managed to put runners on the corners with two outs after a single and a walk.
However, Cortes remained unfazed and induced a groundout to escape the inning unscathed.
He allowed just one more baserunner for the remainder of his performance, with a one-out single in the fourth inning. Nevertheless, Cortes swiftly ended the inning, and his outing, with a ground ball double play.
Earlier this week, Yankees manager Aaron Boone mentioned that Cortes would probably need one or two more rehab starts before rejoining the team. Boone also stated that he did not anticipate transitioning to a six-man rotation.
After his remarkable All-Star season in 2022, Cortes has struggled this year, accumulating a 5.16 ERA and a 1.298 WHIP over 59 1/3 innings in the big leagues before landing on the injured list on June 8.
