Yankees activate Giancarlo Stanton from IL, but lose Nestor Cortes to groin strain

OAKLAND, Calif. – The Yankees returned one All-Star to the roster Thursday when Giancarlo Stanton was at last activated from the injured list.

But they lost another All-Star the same day as lefthander Nestor Cortes Jr. landed on the IL with left groin strain.

Greg Weissert, a product of Bay Shore High School and then Fordham University, was called up from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre as a corresponding roster move.

The loss of Cortes – who believes he’ll be able to come off the IL after the minimum 15 days, though Aaron Boone did hedge a little bit on that – from a rotation that has mostly struggled the second half of the season will be a difficult blow to overcome.

The lefthander has been far and away the Yankees’ most consistent starter this season – 9-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 23 starts, striking out 133 batters, and walking 30, in 131 innings.

“Obviously, we need him,” Aaron Boone said Thursday before the Yankees started a three-city, 10-game trip against the A’s at RingCentral Coliseum. “He’s been one of the best pitchers in the American League all year. Incredibly reliable and consistent for us … hopefully it’s not something that cost him more than a couple starts hopefully maybe something that serves him well and gives his body a little break.”

Clarke Schmidt, who had been stretched out as a starter in Scranton before being called up earlier this week, will slot into Cortes’ spot in the rotation, with his first start in that role coming Sunday afternoon in Oakland against the Athletics.

The 131 innings is a career high for Cortes, who continues building on the 93 innings he completed last year, his previous career high.

Cortes said he first felt the discomfort in the groin on the “second or third pitch” of his previous outing, last Sunday against the Blue Jays when he allowed one run and three hits over six innings of an eventual 4-2 victory at the Stadium.

“I felt it. I didn’t know how serious it was,” Cortes said Thursday. “Around the third inning, I wrapped it up just because I felt some discomfort. Wrapped it up in the third inning and pitched through it and I was able to get six innings.”

The pitcher continued: “During the game I didn’t think it was that big of a deal and obviously I wanted to compete and give my team the best chance as possible (to win). I grinded through it. I didn’t know how bad it was until the MRI. Even the next day (Monday) I thought it was OK but the fact I was limping, we needed the MRI.”

Cortes, though of course disappointed to be missing any time, nonetheless found a silver lining in the timing of this injury.

“Honestly, I feel like if there was a time for it to happen, it would be now instead of the middle of September or late September going into the playoffs, or into October,” Cortes said. “I have to kind of take care of my body so I can be one of the guys when playoff time comes around. I might have pitched through it, but it could have (gotten) worse, and that’s the last thing we need to happen – me trying to power through it and … have myself not be able to pitch in the playoffs come October.”

Stanton, meanwhile, returned to the lineup after seeing the Yankees go 10-17 in his absence, caused by left Achilles tendinitis. Stanton, hitting .228 but with 24 homers – still the third-highest total on the club behind Aaron Judge’s 48 and Anthony Rizzo’s 28 – and an .807 OPS, started at designated hitter and batted third Thursday.

“He feels ready to go,” Boone said of Stanton. “Really excited to get him back.”