As Nestor Cortes breezed his way through the Rangers lineup, pitching seven no-hit innings, many worried that Aaron Boone would provide a Clayton Kershaw sequel by taking his lefty out with history still within reach.
Boone never had to wrestle with history and health, as Cortes allowed his first hit with one out in the eighth, but if he hadn’t, Boone said he had no plans to take Cortes out of the game.
“I didn’t wrestle at all with sending him back out for the eighth,” Boone said afterward. “If he’s at 105, 108, 100, yeah, probably [he stays in]. If we’re getting into what I would have considered a danger zone, but then maybe not, but he was going.”
Cortes was in the midst of the longest outing of his career as he tried to navigate through the rest of the Texas lineup, and even when he walked two in the seventh, Boone didn’t hesitate to leave in his starter and see if he could get out of trouble and keep his no-hit bid alive.
“I was gonna let him go as long as he was efficient,” Boone said. “If it starts to get where he’s laboring and walking more guys, then we have to make an adjustment, obviously. But there wasn’t a number I was looking at. I was hoping he would get some quick outs, but I didn’t have a specific number in mind.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch
