Rafael Devers has often been a thorn in the side of the Yankees, so Nestor Cortes reached deep into his bag of tricks to strike out the third baseman in Wednesday’s win over the Red Sox.
Cortes, pitching in his second game off the IL, pulled off one of his patented windup trickery, motioning like he was set to drop his lead foot before coming to the plate, but instead paused, lifted the leg again, then quickly came to the plate before firing an 88 mph fastball off the outside corner, which a surprised Devers was clearly late on with the swing.
Devers looked up to the skies as he slowly, very slowly, began his trip back to the dugout, while Cortes had his fifth of seven strikeouts on the night.
The Yankee lefty tossed five innings of three-hit ball, allowing just one run. But of is seven strikeouts, the punchout of Devers was certainly the most entertaining.
“All the stuff that comes out is literally on the spot. I was just glad it was a competitive pitch,” Cortes said. “As soon as I lifted up my leg, all hell broke loose.”
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