Yankees’ Nestor Cortez Delivers Another Gem in Win Over Rays

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.— The Yankees entered Tropicana Field to face their stiffest AL East competition battered and bruised — and on Thursday night, it didn’t matter.

Just as he has all season, Nestor Cortes pitched like an ace, which allowed a makeshift Yankees lineup that didn’t get a hit off Ryan Yarbrough until the sixth inning, enough time to break through in a 7-2 win over the Rays.

It was the first of 19 games between the teams this season, with 10 of those meetings coming in the Yankees’ next 25 games.

The victory extended the Yankees’ lead in the AL East over Tampa Bay to 5 ½ games.

Cortes took a shutout into the ninth and threw a career-high 109 pitches.

After two of the first three batters of the night got on base, Cortes retired 14 straight before Isiah Kiner-Falefa made an error to lead off the bottom of the sixth.

By then, the Yankees had built a three-run lead, all in the top of the inning.

“Just scratching out that first run was big, especially with Nestor on the mound and how he’s been,’’ Aaron Judge said. “You get one run and they way that guy’s rolling, we’re in a good spot.”

Cortes lowered his ERA to 1.70, but said he still doesn’t consider himself one of the game’s best pitchers.

“Not really,’’ Cortes said. “I’ve still got a lot to prove, I think. It’s still early, a quarter [into] the season. I want to prove I can go 30 starts and 150-plus innings, hopefully. Just keep my head down and keep going.”

Told of Cortes’ comments, Judge said, “I definitely disagree. [But] he can think whatever he wants if he’s gonna keep doing what he’s doing.”

Yarbrough, meanwhile, entered with a 2.41 ERA in 37 ¹/₃ innings against the Yankees and retired 15 of the first 16 batters he saw, with only Anthony Rizzo reaching on a one-out walk in the first.

Rolling out a lineup that was without Giancarlo Stanton (ankle), DJ LeMahieu (left wrist), Josh Donaldson (COVID IL) and Aaron Hicks (hamstring), the Yankees won their third straight game after suffering their first three-game losing streak of the season.

“We’ve got a resilient team,’’ Judge said.

Matt Carpenter, just released by the Rangers and signed by the Yankees earlier Thursday, led off the sixth by getting hit by a pitch, and the light-hitting Marwin Gonzalez followed with the Yankees’ first hit of the night, a single up the middle to bring up the top of the order.

Judge then singled up the middle to score Carpenter from second and give the Yankees a 1-0 lead.

Rizzo flied out to right for the first out, with Gonzalez moving up to third.

With Ryan Thompson in to face Gleyber Torres, Judge stole second.

Torres popped out before Andujar hit a grounder to shortstop. Taylor Walls stumbled and then bounced his throw to first, where Harold Ramirez didn’t get a glove on the ball and it got away, allowing a second run to score on the play, giving the Yankees a 3-0 lead.

The Yankees scored on a wild pitch in the seventh to make it 4-0 before Cortes finally gave up another hit with two outs in the bottom of the inning, as Manuel Margot’s shot to right-center just eluded Judge.

The lefty got Isaac Paredes to ground out to get out of the inning.

The Yankees tacked on three more runs in the ninth courtesy of a Judge sacrifice fly and a run-scoring double by Rizzo.

It was a promising start to an important stretch for the Yankees, who built much of their early success against sub-.500 teams, including going 9-4 against the last-place Orioles.

“To be a part of this was a lot of fun,’’ said Carpenter, who landed in Tampa three hours before the game started and was only in the lineup because Hicks was scratched. “I was thrown right into the fire and tried to put some good at-bats together.”