Nestor Cortes endured a challenging outing in his third spring training start, surrendering six runs against the Minnesota Twins, leading to a 10-7 loss for the New York Yankees on Saturday afternoon.
Cortes, following a strong performance where he allowed only one run across four innings, struggled significantly in this outing. He managed just 3.1 innings, yielding six runs on nine hits and a walk, albeit with six strikeouts. This performance inflated his spring ERA to 8.10 across three starts.
Despite a rocky start, Cortes showed some resilience, pitching a clean third inning but conceding another run in the fourth. His outing was cut short during a challenging second inning, highlighted by Byron Buxton’s bases-clearing triple and earlier home run off Cortes.
On a brighter note, Austin Wells continued to showcase his hitting prowess by smashing his second home run in as many games, giving the Yankees an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Wells finished the game 1-for-3 with a strikeout, tallying three hits and two home runs over his last two appearances.
Nick Burdi, vying for a spot in the bullpen, faced some struggles, conceding a run on two hits and a walk in his inning of work. Despite this, he has shown promise with eight strikeouts across four innings this spring.
The Yankees received unfortunate news before the game, as it was revealed that infielder Oswald Peraza would be sidelined for 6-8 weeks due to a shoulder injury, leaving an Opening Day spot vacant. In response, infielders like Josh VanMeter, who broke his 0-for-14 slump with a two-run homer, and Jahmai Jones, who went 0-for-3 but has shown glimpses of promise with two doubles this spring, will need to step up.
Everson Pereira contributed with a two-run single in the eighth inning, narrowing the Twins’ lead to 8-7. However, the Yankees bullpen faltered, allowing two more runs in the bottom half of the inning, sealing their defeat.
Looking ahead, the Yankees will face the Atlanta Braves at home on Sunday, with Clarke Schmidt taking the mound against AJ Smith-Shawver, with the first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
