NEW YORK — Yankees pitcher Nestor Cortes had Clarke Schmidt laughing Monday afternoon when he showed up for work on his start day looking like he was ready for a 1970s disco dressed in matching white with black spotted shirt and pants.
Or maybe the left-hander forgot to take off his PJs in anticipation of checking out the solar eclipse.
Schmidt was told by NJ Advance Media, “If Nestor pitches a shutout tonight, he’ll have to wear the same thing for his next start.”
“I’ll make him,” Schmidt replied.
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This flashy outfit perhaps will have an encore showing this weekend.
After a bunch of Yankees players put on protective glasses and watched the eclipse, Cortes was a different kind of lights out pitching a two-hit shutout over eight scoreless innings in a 7-0 pasting of the 1-10 Marlins.
By winning, the Yankees matched their best 11-game start ever at 9-2, a record they had just six previous times – 1922, 1933, 1949, 1953, 1988, 2003 and 2020.
If the Yankees beat the Marlins again on Tuesday night, they’ll be 10-2 for the fourth time (along with 1922, 1949 and 2003).
The Marlins’ only baserunnners off Cortes, who struck out six and didn’t walk anyone, were singles in the fourth and seventh innings by Bryan De La Cruz.
“His plan was really good,” manager Aaron Boone said. ”I thought he was getting the ball in the spots that he wanted to all night long. The changeup was a factor for him, but he was obviously really efficient and a big eight-inning start for us. He was awesome.”
The game was scoreless until the fourth when Anthony Volpe and Juan Soto hit three-run homers off Marlins lefty starter Jesus Luzardo.
“That’s what you hope for as a starting pitcher,: Cortes said. “That fact that we were able to get six runs there was awesome.”
Cortes allowed three first-inning runs in each of his first two starts, but this time retired the Marlins 1-2-3 in 14 pitchers when he got three flyball outs.
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