There are two versions of Nestor Cortes: the shaky one on the road and the brilliant one at home.
On the road, Cortes allows more hits (26) than innings pitched (20) along with a through-the-roof 6.75 ERA.
At home, he has pitched into the seventh inning in all four outings, and has given up just 16 hits — four for extra bases — and five earned runs over 28 ¹/₃ mostly dominant frames.
“I love pitching in front of the Yankees fans,” the unorthodox and crafty southpaw said after the Yankees completed a three-game sweep of the Tigers, 5-2, in a rain-shortened, eight-inning game in The Bronx.
“As far as I can remember in 2021, I love pitching here. When we have two strikes or there’s two outs, everybody gets involved — the fans, the guys upstairs with the noise — it just gives you that extra edge and that’s why I feel like it’s been working for me.”
Cortes was particularly effective on Sunday, limiting the Tigers to two base runners over the first six innings and striking out nine overall.
He ended up recording only one out in the seventh after allowing singles to Mark Canha and Jake Rogers, and was charged with two earned runs when reliever Ian Hamilton allowed both inherited runners to score.
Still, Cortes lowered his ERA on the season to 3.72 — it is a microscopic 1.58 at home — in matching Tigers ace Tarik Skubal, who gave up two earned runs over six innings.
Cortes insisted he wasn’t concerned with Skubal, one of the bright young pitching stars in the game who entered the contest with a 1.72 ERA.
“I feel like when I’m out there, I just focus on myself, I focus on our team,” he said. “When I’m out there. I’m trying to give my team a chance to win, no matter if it’s a No. 1 or a No. 5.
“I feel like I’m not pitching against him, I’m pitching against myself, and hoping that I can give myself a chance to be in that one-to-three range of earned runs and having that opportunity for my team [to win].”